Dynamically Challenged
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: Ichigo was a semi normal human from a paralel universe. They were a war pack looking for an omega to become part of their group. With Bucky's rut coming up, and Fury being a manipulative jerk- Ichigo is thrust into a role that she niether wants or consented too. this is a Bucky/Fem Ichigo Alpha/Omega fic.
1. Chapter 1

The first time that Ichigo met them, was when she was called to Director Fury's office during her routine morning workout. She was sweaty, cramping from her monthly and in a general _pissy_ goddamned mood if the punishment that she'd dealt to the facilities gym equipment was any indication at all.

So naturally she simply didn't care much for Fury calling her to his office in her current state.

Huffing quietly as she wandered down the winding hallways, she reached up to check her hair and make sure that it was still up like she'd styled it this morning when she had rolled out of bed, and once satisfied with her little 'pat down' took a moment to pause outside of the man's office. Where Maria Hill was currently standing, watching her with a bemused expression as she double checked to make sure that she was semi-half assed decent.

Meaning that her clothing, despite being sweat stained, hopefully didn't have any pit stains or food or drink stains.

She could only handle so much _indecency_ before she reverted to being more incredibly girly than she normally was and wanting desperately to primp in front of a mirror a little bit after a nice warm bath.

"I think you're fine kid." Maria finally said with a slight quirk of her lips.

In the past three years since Ichigo had appeared out of thin air, she and the rest of Shield had gotten to know the girl pretty well. Which was why Maria was fairly certain that the young omega was going to throw one hell of a hissy fit once she realized just what Nick was in the process of doing.

The girl after all, didn't seem to know or understand anything about her secondary orientation and therefore never did as one expected a young unbonded omega to do.

She didn't cower when someone screamed at her, or hit her, or even tried to rape her. Which had happened several times during her stay with them. All so that they could force her to submit and 'put her in her place'.

Which was why she had such a bad feeling about Nick's current deal with the new Avenger James Barnes, concerning the girl.

"Thanks Maria." Ichigo said before then hesitating for a second and asking, "S-Should I knock or just go in?"

"I think you should just go in, kid."

"Okay." Ichigo muttered as she reached out and placed her hand on the little scanner next to the door and let it scan her hand. Once the door opened, Ichigo stepped inside and paused when she saw the small group of people sitting around Nick's desk.

"Ah, Ichigo- come in and have a seat. I have something to discuss with you." Nick said as the door closed behind her, nearly causing her to jump out of her skin. "Gentlemen, this is Miss Kurosaki. Age eighteen. As you can see from her record's she's healthy, an unbonded omega, and would be a very suitable choice for helping Mr. Barnes through his upcoming rut-"

_"No."_ Ichigo finally said, interrupting Nick in mid sentence.

Fury sighed, and rubbed at the spot between his eyebrows in irritation before turning to her and saying, "We will talk about this in a moment."

"No we aren't-" Everyone was looking at her now. The tall blond standing behind the large wingback chair with his arms crossed, practically scowled at her. "There is nothing to speak about. There's nothing to discuss. You're standing here talking about me as I have no right to say anything about what it is that you are planning to do with me. Last I checked, I was a human being. I have _rights_. And prostitution is a crime. So is rape. And it would be rape, because I wouldn't be willing in the slightest."

Fury started to open his mouth to say something but she cut him off, "The answer is 'fuck no'. I don't give a damn who this guy is. I don't give a rats ass who his friends are. He touches me, and I'll take him apart just like the last guy that touched me without permission. End of discussion." And with that she turned and walked back tot he door leaving the scowling blond and his friends staring at her in slack jawed disbelief as she left the room.

Once she was gone, Nick turned to the Avenger's present and started to apologize for her lack of respect when Tony spoke up and said gleefully, "We'll take her." Abruptly shutting him up.

"Just to be clear, I know that it isn't easy for a war pack to survive without an omega. And I also know that _some_ of you are more traditional than others. However, this is the modern era and Ichigo was right about those things that she mentioned. She is a person. She does have rights. Just because she doesn't seem to understand what it's like to _submit_ and act like an omega doesn't give any of you any right to punish her or hurt her. I don't care if she rips you're balls off and then laughs about it. If she is still unwilling by the time Barnes rut rolls around, she'll return here and a professional omega will be found for you."

"We understand the terms Nick. Now how are we supposed to get her to the tower?"

Fury sighed again and simply told them that he'd have Ichigo transported to the tower within the hour. Whether she liked it or not after which he shook hands with the men and they all filed out of the room to leave.

* * *

Ichigo was still good and pissed when she returned to her room and found... Agents going through her things with duffle bags and such? "Son of a bitch-" She muttered as she stomped up to the nearest agent and grabbed him and threw him outside of her room before letting out a loud feral sounding growl that sent the other agents scurrying for the door as Nick started to walk in.

The man made a squawking sound and quickly moved out of the way before his agents could run him down. Once they were gone, he peeked into Ichigo's room to see the girl grab one of the duffle bags dropped in the agent's haste to escape her wrath and start to unpack everything.

"Ichigo-"

"Go away Nick."

"I-" He started to explain that this would be good for her. To better help her understand what she was and how to act. He wasn't doing this to be mean or cruel or to hurt her. But she sort of cut him off at the knees with a venom laced.

"I think you've done enough damage for one day. Leave me alone."

He didn't bother trying to speak to her after that. She had her mind made up against him. So he did what any sane, rational thinking man would do.

He shot her with a tranquilizer and then stood there while it took effect. And then once it did, he called Maria to come down and repack her things and get everything ready so that he could keep his word about getting Ichigo to Avenger's tower within the hour.

* * *

Back at Avenger's Tower-

"So it's done?" Natasha asked the moment that Tony, Steve and Bucky walked through the door. She'd heard through her little grapevine that Barnes had some sort of deal with Fury in exchange for an omega to help him through his upcoming rut in a bout a month.

And to her knowledge all of the omega's on the triskelion were mated and bonded. Well, except for the kid. But...Nick wouldn't be so heartless as to force her into some sort of position where she could be taken advantage of. Would he?

Granted, Barnes was a decent man- for an alpha. But he was also somewhat on the desperate side since he hadn't had a rut in well over seventy years.

"Yeah it's done." Tony sighed as Steve walked by him growling under his breath before finally snapping.

"Yes, Nat it's done. Our pack omega is going to be an unruly one."

"For fuck's sake Steve will you please come off of it. There is no such thing as an unruly omega! Hell, you think an omega is being unruly when they don't submit to you or the skin of their ankles can been seen. How scandalous." Tony snarked back. His tone laced with his usual frustration and sarcasm.

"Well it's true! She is an unruly omega. Did you even hear what came out of her mouth?" Steve said. Sounding totally surprised that any omega would _dare_ to curse much less say _no_ to practically becoming their pack omega.

"Yes, I heard. Contrary to what you and many, many others seem to think about me- _I'm not deaf_." Tony said in an exasperated tone as he sat himself on the couch and loosened his tie. "Besides, Fury warned us that she wasn't going to like this particular arrangement. After all, he did this without her say or consent-"

"Well maybe after she's knotted and bred a few times-" Steve started to say, his tone laced with so much anger and venom that had even Barnes was looking at him as if he were _insane _as Tony came up off of the couch roaring.

"That is enough out of you!" Startling Steve into silence for a moment. "For god's sake Roger's what the hell is wrong with you? You don't knot and breed omega's now a days unless it's what they want. They don't have to have alpha's or mates to take care of them. And they certainly won't want some dumbass throwback from midieval times. She doesn't have to listen to anything we say to her. And she certainly doesn't have to submit if she finds us lacking as alpha's, so just shut you're damned mouth about her. Omega's in general, and just keep you're sorry fucking opinion of them to yourself!"

"You don't go near her. You don't touch her. You don't even talk to her. Do you understand Stevie?" Barnes finally chimed in. His expression dark as he stared his best friend down like the predator he was. Steve snorted at them and grabbed a gatorade from the fridge and then walked out of the kitchen, bumping shoulder's with Bucky as he passed while growling underneath his breath.

_"Gladly."_ Making it very clear to them that he wanted no part of an omega that didn't know her place. Bucky twisted his head around and watched the blond leave the room before sighing and shaking his head sadly.

Steve wasn't acting like himself. In truth he hadn't been since Sharon broke up with him a while back, and he refused to speak about the reasons why he was being such a bastard of late. Especially when it came to omega's.

It was as if he believed that omega's should be punished for Sharon's...whatever the hell happened.

And Bucky didn't like it.

"What the hell is his problem?" Tony spat, his hackles practically standing on end.

"I don't know, but under no circumstances whatsoever is he to be allowed near the girl." Bucky said in a low growling tone. Nat nodded her head in agreement and Tony was about to say something else when Friday chimed in and told them that Fury was there to deliver the omega.

* * *

Bucky hadn't really known what to expect upon the girl's arrival.

Anger? Resentment? The silent treatment maybe? Possibly a punch to the face?

But having the girl dumped unceremoniously on the couch, unconscious, by Fury with at least fifteen tranquilizer darts sticking out of her- was a far cry from what he and the others had obviously been expecting.

A very, very far cry.

Tony took one look at the girl and started sputtering on the spot while Nat moved to check her pulse.

"What the hell Fury?! You said you'd deliver her! Not put her in a coma!" Tony finally shouted at the other alpha. Fury had been doubled over for the past few minutes trying to catch his breath a bit before growling,

"What the hell do you want from me Stark? She already injured seven agents trying to keep from being put in the damned car. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to transport someone like her? Cause it isn't easy. She would have killed us _both_ just to spite you," Fury huffed one last time before then slowly straightening his spine. "By the way, I noticed on my way to bring her here that she's beginning to go into heat. It's subtle right now, but her scent is off."

"What?!" Tony, and Bucky both yelled in unison before then glancing down at the girl in concern. They had known that they would be dealing with the girl's heat eventually- but they had never thought that it would be so damned soon.

For Christ's sake, they didn't even have a fucking nest made for her!

"I'm going to have Hill fax over a copy of her medical files for you to look over. Something tells me that it may help you figure out the best way to approach her as a potential mate and pack omega by the end of the year. Anyways, she's here. She's in heat. And I'm...out. Good luck. You lot are really going to need it." Fury said as he began to back out of the room before finally turning on his heel and fleeing.

Leaving the three standing there wondering what the hell they were supposed to do now.

It wasn't as if omega's in general came with instruction manuals on how to take care of them. Sure they knew most of the instinctual drives to shelter, provide, protect and mate.

But they didn't really know what to do for one in heat.

There was the normal reaction, mating and breeding. Laying a claim on the omega in question and helping to ease the pain caused by their heat.

But unless the girl consented to such, no one present in the building would touch her.

It was really the only way to make sure that mating and being bred- wasn't forced on her by an abusive alpha- and was something that she chose for herself. After all, while not every alpha in the Avenger's were traditional- some were. But not all of them.

And it was always a concern that some traditional alphas didn't seem to understand the concept of right and wrong very well.

Some even tended to forcibly mate omega's because of nothing more than a sense of entitlement. They were alphas, they were born strong, and had knots so that they could breed omegas. So naturally it didn't matter if an omega said no to them or not.

They were brutilized, dehuminized, humilated and treated like toys and passed around form one person to another all while their dear 'beloved' alpha patted himself/herself on the back and told them that it was for their own good.

Frankly Tony, Bucky and many others believed that those alphas were simply compenating for what they lacked below the belt. Why else would an alpha do something so horrible to someone that they were meant to protect?

Leaning down a little bit to try and gauge how long they had until the girl was hit by a full heat, all three sniffed at the girl and pulled back abruptly at her scent. It was subtle, however that would change the more times passed.

Right now she smelled like ginger and vanilla.

But later her scent would become sweeter and much more potent.

"I'll...go collect some blankets and pillows for her to make a nest with. Um...s-should we contact Clint or Bruce to take care of her since they're both beta's?" Tony asked awkwardly.

"Nah. Nat and I will take care of her." Bucky said after a moment or so of consideration. "This will give me a chance to learn some of her needs during such a vulnerable time, and bond with her some. Nat- will keep me from touching her without consent. That will be her main job. If at any time I look like I'm going to try mounting her, kick my ass and throw me out of her room and put the place on lockdown."

"Sure. I can do that." Nat said confidently. Kicking ass was her favorite thing to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Once the omega had been removed from the common room and into her bedroom where Bucky had placed her on her bed and then waited patiently for Tony to arrive with the pillows, blankets and such for her nest. He busied himself with making a warm water bottle for her cramps.

And then went through the well stocked refrigerator, and medicine cabinet to see what they had and what they would likely need over the next four days.

He found some pain meds, which would help the girl with her heat pains since she wasn't being serviced by him. And the food would run low sooner than the allotted time was up due to his need to consume four times more than normal because of the serum running through his veins.

So Friday would have to order food for them to keep them all from starving.

Tony finally showed up a few minutes later with his arms heavy laden with nice, buttery soft blankets and pillows for the omega to make herself a comfortable nest with. At which time Bucky told him that they would have to restock the fridge in a few hours.

Tony nodded and told him to make a list of everything that they would need and then left once he made sure that Friday was aware that she would have to order things for them and have them delivered quickly.

Once he finally finished up the warm water bottle, he walked into the bedroom to put it under the blanket with the omega, against her stomach, to help some with her cramps and abdominal pains while she slept off the tranquilizers and paused just inside of the door when he noticed that the omega was awake, and sitting up on the bed, holding her head in her hands.

Nat was sitting on the edge of the mattress, her undivided attention on the girl as if she were worried that she might become frightened or something.

Finally after several minutes the girl raised her head and looked at her and then asked, "Where am I?"

"You're in Avenger's Tower. In New York city."

"Fury?"

"Dropped you off and then left."

"Fucking A. The bastard better goddamn run. The second I get out of here- I'm going to go after him and fuck that asshole up." Bucky didn't even bat an eyelash at the omega's language, even if she was _growling_ angrily. Nat didn't bat an eyelash at the language either.

Probably cause she'd heard worse from himself, Steve, Tony and Clint.

Bruce didn't swear. And Thor...simply _wasn't_ very good at it. Seriously, the man had lived more than a thousand years and his worst 'swear' word happened to be scoundrel. _Scoundrel!_ Like someone out of an old eighteen hundred's film or something!

It was beyond funny.

"I...know you don't I?" The omega finally stopped growling enough to ask as she looked between Nat and him.

"We have met once or twice." Nat said kindly.

"Not long after I first came here. Right?" Nat smiled at the girl and the omega huffed and looked away before saying, "I know the guy from earlier."

"Yes, Angel. He and a couple others were visiting Fury to ask him a favor."

"To whore me out you mean." The girl said bitterly without bothering to look at them again. Bucky cringed a little bit at the omega's words.

Did Fury not explain anything to her at all? He wondered as he tightened his grip around the water bottle until the damned thing threatened to burst as Nat reached out and very gently rubbed the girl's arm in a soothing manner as she said, "No, no, no angel. That was not the purpose of the meeting. We are a war pack without an omega, and he felt as if you might like to stay with us for a while. To see if you would be interested in being one of our pack."

"I heard him say something about helping someone in rut."

"I-"

"I'll take this part Nat. Why don't you...go get the blankets and stuff for the nest." Bucky said as he walked over to the bed and sat down in the same spot that Nat had previously occupied.

"Doll," He said softly in an effort to gain her attention. The moment that she was...glowering at him? He started talking. "Nat wasn't lying when she said that we needed an omega. Fury thought that maybe it might be good for you to bond with us as a pack. Get to know us a bit and vice versa. You have a _say_ in this. If you don't want to help with my upcoming rut, then that's fine. I won't hold it against you and neither will anyone else."

"I don't feel safe." The omega finally said once he was finished speaking and he could barely hide his flinch.

Having an omega that didn't feel safe around alpha's was like being kicked in the nuts a hundred times in rapid succession. The pain of knowing that the girl didn't feel safe around him or anyone else was just...unbelievable. I-It was just bad. Very, very bad.

And Bucky didn't know how to make things better.

"It'll be okay doll. I know that you don't feel safe now. But we'll work on that. No one here is going to hurt you. _Ever._ You have my word on that." He said in a soft rumbling tone as he finally recalled that he had the water bottle in his hand and then held it out to her. It was still warm enough to be of some use to her despite having cooled a bit.

"Ummm...w-what's this?" She asked as she took the water bottle from him and looked at it oddly.

"I-It's warm water. Ya know, for you're stomach cramps since you're in heat-"

"I'm sorry, what? _What did you just say_?" The girl asked, her tone laced with hysteria as she looked at him. He could practically sense and smell her slowly growing panic and wanted nothing more than to kick himself for saying that to her. Especially when she had finally started to calm a bit.

"I- Uh... Y-You're in heat..." He said lamely and nearly jumped out of his skin when she let out a loud scream.

"Jesus, fuck!" He shouted as he slapped his hands over his ears in an effort to protect his eardrums. But _damn_ if the omega had a set of lungs on her that could actually shatter glass. Honestly, Tony should record her screaming and use it as a call to arms.

That scream sent his instincts into a frenzy in all kinds of ways.

All he could think was, _Omega, pain- scared, scared, scared, protect! _

It certainly brought Nat running from the other room, with her knives in hand, fully prepared to fight him or someone else to the death to keep the girl safe. He would have told her just how proud he was with the speed in which she came running, but didn't have a chance to before she looked at him, bearing her teeth in a vicious snarl and then punched him in the chest knocking him off of the bed and away from the girl.

Once he was on the floor, he wisely stayed down and didn't move as Nat took a moment to look the omega and him both over for some sign of..._violence_? Bruising?

Hell he didn't know. All he knew was that if the girl's screaming had riled his instinct's up then it was safe to assume that her scream had done the same to Nat's.

Once Nat was done looking them over, she then crawled up onto the bed and got in the girl's personal space and sniffed at her a couple of times to check her scent and then slowly relaxed a little bit before asking, "What was all the screaming about?"

Bucky mutters out a response. But Nat can barely hear him over the sound of the omega hyperventilating, but somehow managed to anyways. "What do you mean you _told_ her that she was going into heat?" Nat said in an outraged tone. "You don't say something like that to an omega. Especially a female one! Are you insane Barnes?! It makes them hysterical!"

"Yes! Yes! _I am crazy_. Now could you please help her calm down before she passes out!" He shouted back. Nat turned her head and made a loud purring sound in an effort to calm the girl down like she would any other omega. But it didn't work.

The girl's breathing remained irregular. Her heart was beating far too fast and her lungs were stuttering for air.

Nat tried purring again. But it yielded the same results, confusing her somewhat. Now don't get her wrong, she knew enough to know that the girl was...well, as one politely put it, omega challenged. But she hadn't realized to what extent or that it was quite this _bad_.

"Barnes?" She said in an uncertain tone, her eyes never leaving the girl. Bucky made a weird growling sound in the back of his throat and quickly jumped up from the floor and grabbed the girl from the bed and held her.

"In and out sweetheart. In- good. Now out. That's it, slow you're breathing down to match mine. You're doing good doll. Keep going. In and out. Slow, easy and-" Just as he thought that she was going to be okay, her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out in his arms earning a vicious sounding. _"Shit!" _From him as he carefully scooped her up and placed her back on the bed.

Nat scrubbed her face with her hands and then stared at the girl, exasperation bleeding from her pores as he muttered. "Well, that was about what I expected from her."

"Good to know that she's living up to expectations, Barnes." Nat said dryly.


	3. Chapter 3

After the little..._incident_ with the omega. Bucky left the bedroom and went into the kitchen and started to prepare dinner for everyone while he talked to Tony over the phone.

"Is there anything that you can tell me that might help put her more at ease Tony?" Bucky asked after several moments of listening to the man prattle on about some of the stuff in her medical file. Yet somehow managed to be vague enough to set Bucky's teeth on edge.

_"I'm not sure. There's a lot that is fairly unknown about her. Even Sheild and Fury's goons haven't been able to figure it all out."_

Bucky paused for a moment, the knife in his hand precariously poised over an red onion that he had been cutting up, as he considered Tony's words curiously before asking, "What do you mean?"

_"I mean that according to these files, she's only been around for three years. There's signs of some really bad stuff here too Buck. Like experimentation. Severe physical and mental trauma. Injuries to her heart and lungs that never really healed right. Jesus, a pregnancy just might kill her. It's strongly advised against. There are records cataloging broken bones, bruises, shattered organs such as her spleen, gallbladder, ect…" _

_"She is noted to have behavioral problems. Not that she's an outright mean person or anything. In most of the incidents, she was antagonized. She's killed at least three Shield alpha's. She suffers from night terrors. Homesickness. Depression." _

_"She's mentioned her family only a small handful of times that have been noted, saying that she misses them and wished that she could see them again. Two known and yet questionable suicide attempts."_

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up. How can a suicide attempt be questionable?" Bucky asked as his mind latched onto the words and refused to let go.

_"Uh...something about the attempts seemed...off to Fury. Staged. Ichigo was injured. Badly. And did require immediate medical aid. When she was questioned, she appeared to be confused. She kept asking what happened." _

"Is that normal? I mean, was she oxygen starved at the time or suffering from a head wound?"

_"No. Not that I can see." _

Bucky closed his eyes and sighed as he rubbed the place between his eyes with his flesh hand before slowly saying. "Then someone tried to kill her."

_"That's what Fury concluded too." _

"Did he ever catch the culprit?"

_"Dunno. There's nothing in her file about it." _

"Shit." Bucky muttered darkly. The thought of their little omega being killed by some bastard sent a chill straight through him that he'd only felt while on the ice. "Who the hell did she piss off?"

_"Probably some traditional alpha assholes. She certainly had enough run ins with them."_

"That bad?"

_"Worse,"_ Tony said with a sigh. _"Several rape attempts, assault- not the sex kind- but where she was hit and knocked around a good deal. Cause she gave as good as she got from the way I'm reading this." _

"Okay, okay- I'm sorry Tony but I can't listen to anymore of this right now." Bucky said after a moment or so.

_"It's causing you're instincts to stir up pretty badly, huh?" _

"Too much."

_"Alright. Let me know if you need anything."_

"Thanks Tony. Later." Bucky said as he pressed the button to end the call and then started to get back to making their food. It took almost two hours, but finally he finished everything and made the omega and Nat a plate and set them aside for a moment to go and check on the girls.

Nat hadn't moved from the omega's side since she passed out on them. The second that he'd put the girl back in the makeshift nest, Nat had crawled in beside her and curled herself around her in an effort to comfort the girl in her unconscious state.

Peeking into the bedroom, he noted that nothing had really changed.

The girl was still unconscious and Nat...was resting her chin on the girl's shoulder and purring softly. Her eyes were closed for the moment, but Bucky could tell that she was close to dozing off herself.

But that was normal considering just how long she had been purring like that. Even so, it wasn't totally enough to keep her from cracking a lazy eye open and looking in his direction.

Bucky gave her a little finger wave and then left the room again.

With Nat like that and the girl still out of it, neither one would be up for eating right then. So he'd put their plates in the fridge and wait until they were more awake and alert before handing them their food.

* * *

It was later in the night evening when Nat wandered out of the bedroom in search of food for herself. And the girl finally woke up too. And seemed to have wandered out of the bedroom as well.

By this time, Bucky had been sitting on the couch, flipping through channels on the TV in a bored fashion when he'd heard the first sounds of shuffling and turned his head to see Nat meandering towards the kitchen. It was several seconds later when the girl peeked out of the bedroom.

He caught her scent moments before he actually saw her, and frowned as she shuffled out of the room.

It was practically unheard of for an omega to leave their nest during their heat. They were simply in too much pain and hadn't the energy to bother. And yet...here she was.

Not only leaving the nest while in heat, but seemingly fine.

It did all kinds of things to his mind to see her up and shuffling about in such a vulnerable state. His first instinctive response to this, was to get up and go and grab her up in his arms so that she wouldn't be on her feet anymore.

Or rather- it would have been anyways. He got half way to her when she turned her head to look at him and growled at him as if he annoyed her.

And while the growl wasn't really angry or threatening, it still gave him pause for a moment, and made him feel very uncertain of what to do with himself. He'd never met an omega that didn't want the comfort of an alpha's scent or presence before. Especially during their heat.

"I- Uh, d-do you need anything doll?" Bucky finally managed to stammer out after a moment or so. Apparently being growled at by the omega had really thrown him for a loop.

"T-The bathroom?" She asked hesitantly. He pointed across the room automatically. His instinctive need to please the pretty little omega in some way- no matter how small- driving his mind hard. "Oh, thanks." She said lamely as she started for the bathroom.

He followed her. But at a fair distance since he didn't want her to growl at him again. His concern warring with common sense at the moment. After all, he'd heard stories about alpha's not taking care of their omega's during their heats and letting them drown in the bathtub and such while trying to clean themselves up some.

Of course, they had been exhausted at the time of the drowning.

And though he didn't actually _know_ if she was going to try cleaning herself up or anything- he oddly felt that his concern was perfectly valid. Which was why he tried to follow her into the bathroom, and suddenly found himself grabbed in a remarkably strong grip for such a tiny little omega- and actually tossed out of the small room.

He hit the floor almost a good twenty feet away from his original location, with a thud, and quickly pushed himself upright just in time for the bathroom door to slam shut and then turned his head to see what Nat thought of this..._weirdness_.

Nat was staring at him wide eyed in actual horror. Her expression was a nice combination of 'what the fuck' and 'did that really just happen'. And under normal circumstances, he might have actually laughed about the comical mix of horror and bewilderment and confusion flitting across her face.

After all, the girl wasn't the first person to damned near toss him across a room for something that she felt was being intruded upon. Steve and Bruce had done it a time or two as well.

But then, Steve and Bruce were both alpha/beta's. And incredibly physically strong in their own right.

But being tossed across the room by the omega- well, even he was left _floundering_ at this.

Finally Nat managed to find her tongue and ask, "What did you do?"

"What makes you think that I did anything?"

"Because our new pack omega threw you across the room."

He shrugged, not wanting to admit that she had a point. He must have done something to upset the girl, he just wasn't one hundred percent sure _what_. "She said she needed the bathroom."

"Uh-huh, I heard."

"I followed her because omega's are known to drown in the bathtub."

"Uh-huh. I've heard of that as well."

"I-I tried to follow her in, just in case, ya know- something happened."

Nat rolled her eyes at this and heaved a sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered something in Russian before finally saying, "No wonder she threw you like that."

"Huh?"

"Think at this from her point of view. You're an male alpha."

"Yeah."

"She's in heat."

"Yeah..." Was it just him or were the females of the pack becoming more and more confusing by the second? He wondered idly as Nat continued.

"She obviously didn't want you near her while her pants were down." She concluded, earning a look from him that was beyond _confused_ and _horrified_ all at once as he grappled with the words to adequately defend himself.

After all, he wasn't like other knot head alpha's!

He'd been raised better than to simply claim a person without consent!

Besides, after that little display of strength from the omega- he'd be _scared_ to even try. He was pretty certain that if she could pick him up and toss him like a rag doll with little to no effort at all, that she could definitely kick his ass.

Also- it would be stupid to attempt it since he'd grown up hearing his mom threaten to come back from the dead- once she was dead that is- if he ever so much as thought about claiming a gal without her say so.

He might be a lot of things, but stupid enough to think he'd get away with something like that in one way or another- simply wasn't one of them.

"Nat...how do I fix this?" He asked after a few more moments of lamenting a bit.

"Groveling? Maybe?" She sounded as worried and uncertain as he felt. Still, groveling was an idea.

"Friday, could you please order some flowers. Nice ones." He said before turning back to Nat and asking, "Will one bouquet do or should I get a dozen?"

"A dozen. This definitely calls for a dozen."

"Okay, make that a dozen nice bouquets in some pretty vases."

"Do you think she might like chocolates too?" Nat asked with a slight tilt of her head.

Bucky wasted no time in ordering the candies, though he knew that Nat would likely steal one of the boxes away for herself. Which he didn't mind. After all, she was a dame too. Even if she was an alpha. "And chocolates, the good kind. Two batches of mixed, and two that's just plain truffle and caramel."

"What about a pretty trinket?" Nat finally suggested, her eyes lighting up like Christmas lights. Apparently the thought of presenting their pack omega with something shiny and pretty that she could fawn over pleased her possessive side immensely. Especially since it was a nice way to show the world that the omega belonged to their pack.

It kind of pleased his possessive side too, though he didn't say it aloud.

"Okay, but what should I get her?"

_"We."_ Nat said quickly. "I'll chip in for this one."

"Okay. So..."

"How about a white gold and diamond studded choker necklace," Nat suggested after a moment or so. "It doesn't have to be totally big or terribly flashy, something dainty would work too. Maybe a choker necklace with channel set princess diamonds in in the shape of flowers. Colors should be white and pink. I think those colors would work well with her eyes. I mean, have you seen how gorgeous her eyes are! That sparkling neon blue color is breathtaking." Nat started to gush a little bit. He merely nodded his head to keep himself from gushing too.

Because Nat was right.

The girl's eyes were _gorgeous_.

"Oh! Sorry, I got side tracked."

He smiled at her, totally understanding where she was coming from.

While she and the omega had been sleeping, he caught himself a time or two mentally writing poems to the omega's beauty. He'd only stopped when he realized what he was doing and tried to distract himself with some TV.

"Anyways, a choker necklace would be more practical than most gifts given to an unbonded omega. It's pretty, and nice and expensive and tells everyone that she's taken even if she doesn't have a bond or a mating bite. And it's nice enough that she can wear almost everyday and wear it to social events and such. It would be easy to accessorize too. And just to make sure she doesn't know what we're doing, I'll chip in for some matching earrings and a bracelet."

"Did you get all of that Friday?" Bucky asked.

_"Yep. You're orders have been placed. Everything should be here within the hour."_


	4. Chapter 4

Ichigo wasn't sure what to expect when she went into the bathroom to change her pad, but a crap load of sex toys, lube and a few other incredibly questionable things- certainly hadn't been it.

Already she had found, broken and tossed about _thirty_ different toys ranging form realistic dildo's with some weird knot-like thing at the end of them, to vibrators, nipple toys, anal beads, more vibrators- lube- some normal, some scented and some eatable.

All of which were incredibly intimidating and mind numbingly _mortifying_ to a virgin like her.

Which is why she had broken them all and tossed them in the trash.

However as frustrating as finding the lot of those had been, it wasn't nearly as frustrating as being unable to find pads, tampons, or sanitary napkins of any kind anywhere in the damned room.

Seriously- were these people fucking sex fiends? Did no one in the building know that girls _bled_ once a month? Dear god what if Fury had left her with a cult?

"Note to self, don't drink any cool-aid." It would probably kill her anyways.

Sighing tiredly, she put a hand against her forehead and noted that her temperature was a little bit higher than it had been before. But then she always tended to run a little bit hotter than most people due to the presence of her inner Hollow. One hundred point nine degree's hotter to be exact.

Which would mean that her current temperature was probably somewhere close to one hundred and two point eight. Maybe a little bit higher, give or take a few degree's.

And on top of that her cramps felt like they were twisting her insides into knots. She wasn't going to lie, as high as her pain threshold was- _this_ was making her utterly miserable.

Reaching up, she decided to check the medicine cabinet. Luckily she could tell that it was really well stocked the moment that she opened it. Finding the pain meds was easy. Finding one specifically meant to take care of fever's, cramps and such. Not so much.

But she did inevitably find some.

The shit was fast acting too.

The tablets swallowed dry, and barely five minutes later her misery eased up considerably. So it was some really good shit. She stuffed it in the pocket of her pants, deciding to keep it close just in case it was needed again and then started rummaging through the medicine cabinet a little bit more.

She found a ton of prenatal vitamins. Pregnancy tests. And condoms- those went in the trash right alone with the vitamins, and tests. She had no use for them and since she didn't intend to get knocked up or fuck anyone, so those things were useless to her anyways.

Huffing in irritation once she realized that the likelyhood of her finding a pad in this damned place was practically zero, she decided to bite the bullet on this one and ask the woman that had been hanging around. As another female, she was probably the only chance she had of ever finding something that she could use to keep herself from bleeding all over the place.

Moving over to the door, she grabbed the handle and quickly pulled it open and peeked out into the...livingroom? And noted that the man from before was still sitting where she'd tossed him, looking up and talking to the woman when he finally noticed her and pointed to indicate that his friend should turn around.

Once she did, "Hi, um...I need you're help miss."

"Natasha." The woman supplied with a friendly smile.

"Natasha," Ichigo said with a small frown. "You're foreign?"

The two seemed somewhat surprised by her question given the fact that Nat's English was as flawless as her other languages.

"Yes." Nat said.

"Russian, right?"

"You know I'm from Russia from just my name?" Nat asked with a curious tilt of her head.

Ichigo shrugged her shoulders. "It's a popular name."

"You've been to the country before?"

Ichigo winced at the question and looked a little bit uneasy before simply saying, "Not willingly." Nat and Bucky both exchanged a look and then turned back to her and started to say or ask something when Ichigo cut the two off with an anxious sounding, "So will you help me please?"

"Of course angel." Nat said as she moved away from where Bucky was sitting and walked over to the bathroom door. Ichigo cast her a grateful look and once she was within reaching distance.

She quickly reached out and grasped her hand and tugged her into the bathroom and shut the door before then opening it again a second later and looking at Bucky and simply saying, "The two of us will be talking about you're inappropriate behavior later." And then closed the door again.

Leaving Bucky to wonder what she meant by 'inappropriate behavior'.

* * *

Once the door was closed again, Ichigo turned to Natasha, whom was curiously examining the damage of the items in the trash can with a critical eye. "You've been busy."

"Yeah, um… I'm not going to lie- I'm not a fan of...stuff." Ichigo said hesitantly as she scrunched up her nose a little bit as Nat dug out one of the sex toys, and studied it before placing it back in the trash and simply saying,

"Duly noted. Is this what you needed my help with?" She then asked.

"Oh, no. No. Not that. Um...I-I can't find any pads." Ichigo stammered out, blushing like mad. Nat tilted her head back on her shoulders a bit and sniffed the air. Noting that the omega smelled like oranges and ginger when she was embarrassed.

"Pads?" Nat asked.

"I- yeah. I can't find any."

"Do you mean writing pads?"

"Uh no. I'm talking about the ones that will keep me from bleeding all over the place."

"You're injured? Where?" Nat demanded as she got in Ichigo's personal space and began to look her over for any signs of physical injury. And when that didn't work, she began to tug at her clothing, earning a startled yelp from the girl as she tried to stop her from undressing her.

And finally once her clothing was more or less removed, Nat looked her over again, taking note of the white, pink and puckered scars littering her body through narrowed eyes.

She had so many of them that Nat didn't know if she wanted to hug her or_ strangle_ someone.

She had honestly in all her years, never seen an omega with so many scars. Not even some of the omega's within Shield- who had abusive mates had so many. It-It was just mind boggling to her how one omega could have suffered so many wounds and somehow survived.

Especially when some of the injuries were consistent with torture, and combat.

_Something to ask Tony about later._ She thought darkly to herself. And if Tony had no answers for her then she would certainly ask Nick about the scars.

Finally once she made sure that there were no wounds, she then began to pat down the girl's bottom and her- Ichigo squeaked as she felt the red head force her hand between her legs before she could squeeze them together to stop her. Noticing the odd shift in her expression when she felt the damp spot on her panties where she had apparently bled through her pad.

Nat pulled her hand away from her crotch, slowly, and looked down at her hand in confusion that quickly gave way to concern when she noted the crimson stain on her skin. "W-What? Why are you- What have you done to yourself?" Nat demanded as soon as she could push her panic aside.

Ichigo merely stood there wide eyed, not really knowing what she meant and therefore had no real way to understand her question. Much less answer it.

When she received no reply, Nat gnashed her teeth in frustration and quickly grabbed the girl and yanked her along behind her as she exited the bathroom. "Bucky!"

The second that he heard her shout for him, he was up and moving. His mind telling him long before he saw the two females that something was very, very wrong. Especially when Nat dragged the omega out of the bathroom by her wrist half naked and looking like she was going to cry.

"Nat? What's going on?" He asked as his gaze shifted curiously from the omega- he wasn't going to bother denying that he didn't see the scars littering her body. He did. And as much as it answered some questions about the pretty little gal, it didn't answer all of them.

Nat looked like she were close to having a stroke or something as she stopped just an inch or so in front of him and blurted out, "She's bleeding. S-She's injured herself somehow!"

The omega visibly bristled and all but shouted, "What?! I did not!"

"You're bleeding!" Nat snapped at her.

"I always bleed around this time of the month- it isn't anything new!"

Still distressed by the fact that she seemed to be injured in some way, Nat turned her head to glare at her for a moment before demanding, "Well, why is that? Why are you bleeding?"

"Because I'm not menopausal."

"Huh?" The two said as Nat reluctantly released her wrist.

"Oh my god what fresh _hell_ did Nicky drop me into?" The girl groaned as she covered her face with her hands before suddenly dropping them and then glaring at them both and pointed her finger towards the couch. "Both of you, park it."

The two just stared at her for a second, not really knowing what this was leading up to but they were both pretty sure that they weren't going to be any less _concerned_.

"For the love of- come on guys! Don't make me snap and snarl and growl at the two of you, just go over there and sit please." Ichigo practically whined.

The two exchanged another look and then hesitantly wandered over to the couch and then sat down.

"Stay there while I get my damned clothes back on. I'll be back in a second to have a really, really long and mortifying talk with you both about by reproductive system." She huffed before she spun on her heel and walked off.


	5. Chapter 5

Giving the two 'the talk' went over about as well as could be expected, she supposed._ If_ of course, they were flipping ten year old's still scared of getting cooties on the playground. Seriously, Rukia and Orihime had better tolerance than these two had.

And they'd been so mortified that Orihime had actually tried to do magic to teleport them to another continent.

Which hadn't helped the two any- but Ichigo's point still stood.

And the questions that they asked, Jesus Christ- _Why_? Why did they feel the need to question every little thing? She had been arguing for the past fifteen minutes with the man- uh, what was his name again? Lucky? Plucky? Ducky?

_Ducky._ Right.

She'd just call him Ducky since she couldn't recall his actual name right now.

"Listen Ducky," He blinked at her as Natasha hid her face in the throw pillow in an effort to suppress her laughter at hearing Bucky referred to as Ducky. Especially since he made no effort whatsoever to correct her assumption. "Sorry, if I just got you're name wrong there- I don't have a great memory when it comes to names," Ichigo said in an apologetic tone that simply had the man nodding his head slowly in understanding before she then said, "Everything that I just told the two of you about my reproductive cycle is true. Arguing about it with me doesn't make it any less so. And it really doesn't get either of us anywhere. So let's just agree to disagree on this."

"Alright." Bucky said after a moment or so as Nat finally dropped the pillow and asked,

"What now?"

"Now... Now I need to find a way to get myself enough pads to last a while. Especially since I get the feeling that my stay here will be an extended one. Am I wrong?"

"No."

"Nope."

"Okay so..."

"Do you think some of your pads may be in the stuff that was brought here with you?" Nat asked.

"It's possible. If not one of you will have to give me a phone so that I can make a call."

"I'll go and check you're things for your...pads then." Nat said as she finally stood up.

"If it's in there, it should be fairly easy to find. I keep it and some of my personal items in a bag about this big," Ichigo said as she measured the size of the bag out with her hands to show Nat. "Also it's a dumb green color. Annoying and easy to spot."

Bucky's lips twitched in amusement as Nat smiled and then moved to leave, but paused for a moment so that she could reach out to the girl and give her a one armed hug and tell her that she was sorry for earlier. Ichigo merely huffed softly and patted her on the back before she was abruptly released.

Something that both alpha's was coming to learn was omega speak for, 'Yeah okay'. Or 'we're good'.

It wasn't really an 'all's forgiven' but well, as far as Nat was concerned it was probably a good thing that she had decided to buy Ichigo the white and pink diamond earrings and bracelet to match Bucky's groveling gift.

So...maybe she'd totally forgive her for her blunder once she had them presented to her.

Once she was gone, Bucky gave the girl his undivided attention. Part of him still sorting and filing away bits and pieces of what she had talked to them both about, away in his mind for later examination and future reference as he asked, "Are you okay?"

He could smell the somewhat subtle scent of oranges mixed in with her heat scent- sorry, _cycle_ scent. And it was starting to worry him a little bit because she'd started rubbing her temples and such a few minutes ago. Indicating either a really bad headache or really strong feelings of annoyance.

"I'm fine," She said in a gentle tone before giving him a slightly strained smile. "Got a little bit of a headache."

"Oh. Sorry." He said lamely and internally cringed a little bit before then saying, "I made food earlier if you're feeling hungry any."

"I am actually. What did you make?" She asked curiously.

"We have hamburgers, potato salad, some pasta salad- if you like that sort of stuff- cole slaw, fries, fixin's. We have five types of potato chip too."

"Awesome. Let's go." Ichigo said with a grin.

Bucky just gave her a weird look that was part shock and surprise and stammered out, "Y-You want me to go with you?"

"Sure. I don't know where anything is. Also the company might be nice."

"Okay." He said in a automatic tone as she reached out and linked her pinky finger with his own. And not the one attached to his flesh hand either. Which startled him even more because people usually tended to steer clear of his metal limb. Either finding it odd, or disgusting.

"By the way, I was a little bit out of line earlier when I threw you. So...sorry about that." Ichigo said as they walked to the kitchen together.

Bucky's eyes flickered from her pinky finger to her face several times as he tired to figure out what to say to her but he kept coming up blank.

Once in the kitchen, Bucky reluctantly pulled away from her and went to grab everything in the fridge.

Her burger would have to be reheated a little bit since he didn't think that she would like eating the meat cold. After he set everything out on the counter, he paused for a moment as she walked over and began to look everything over while he made quick work of grabbing her a plate and a glass for something to drink and then set them on the counter too.

She gave him a small appreciative smile and then started to fix her plate.

He watched her anxiously until she was done, noting that she liked a lot of mayo and a little bit of mustard on her burger. She liked a lot of pickles and onions too. She got a little bit of both the potato and pasta salads, pausing briefly to taste them before getting anymore.

The potato salad was apparently lacking in mustard. Cause she drowned hers in it.

She didn't really bother with the fries, muttering something about a 'snack' for later to herself in a low barely audible tone that she must have thought that he couldn't hear.

And once she was done fixing her plate and putting everything back up again, she grabbed a jug of sweet tea that had been sitting in the fridge and poured herself some after which she grabbed a fork and then looked around for someplace to sit down.

"You can sit anywhere doll." He said helpfully.

She just frowned and scrunched up her nose for a second and then asked, "Are there any stools on the other side of the counter?"

He nodded his head and watched her as she slid her plate across the counter a little bit and then walked around and found herself a stool to sit on and made herself comfortable. By the time that Nat finally returned carrying several bags, one of which happened to be her green bag- Ichigo was already on her second plate of food.

Which oddly made him very, very happy to know that she apparently liked it enough to want more. Hell at this point he was almost _twitchy_ enough to bake her brownies. He didn't know if she liked brownies or not but he was willing to risk it.

Fifty-fifty wasn't bad as far as odds went. Right?

The second that she returned with the bags, Ichigo nearly choked on her bite of food as she turned to look at Nat through wide eyes.

Bucky reached across the counter and thumped her on the back twice to keep her from actually choking to death and was relieved when she started breathing normally again as she squeaked, "Please tell me that you didn't carry all of those bags by yourself."

Nat blinked at her and then smiled.

Ichigo made a funny little sound in the back of her throat and quickly put her food down and slipped from her seat and went over to Nat and started to take some of the heavier looking bags from her as she fussed at her a little bit. "I can't believe that you did that. These bags are heavy! You could have hurt yourself."

Nat simply smiled warmly at her and let her fuss until she had taken some of the heavier things, after which, her gaze flickered to Bucky and he moved to take the bags from the girl before _she_ could hurt herself.

She let out a startled yelp as he came up behind her and gently lifted the straps from her shoulders, pausing for a moment to really feel what was in each of the bags that she had taken.

He was oddly puzzled by what their omega was doing with a small arsenal of weaponry. But he simply let it slide for now and simply gave the girl a gentle nudge back towards the counter and said, "Finish you're dinner." And then turned and started walking towards the bedroom when Ichigo called out to him.

"Could you leave the dark blue bag in here?"

He paused for a moment, his mind had already recognized the knives, and at least five different guns were in the bag as well as ammunition for them. "Will you shoot me if I leave it here?"

The girl looked offended.

Which was….._peculiar_ given her violent tendencies.

"I wont shoot you. The stuff is to be used as a last resort _only_." Ichigo said in an slightly irked tone but said nothing beyond that to indicate any actual threat to his well being. So he left the bag in the room with her while he and Nat went to place her things in the bedroom.


	6. Chapter 6

Upon their return to the living room, both Bucky and Natasha noticed that the omega was on the floor going through the bag that they had been asked to leave with her.

Curious to know what their pack omega was doing exactly, the two silently walked over to her to stand over her. However the girl seemed to either smell them coming or simply sensed them. Because she turned her head to look at them over one of her shoulders and she laid her weapons out and expertly checked them with an unnerving and unmistakable sort of ease that raised all kinds of red flags with them.

But it was the weapons themselves that made them even more curious.

She didn't have good weapons. Not in the conventional sense anyways.

She had one tranquilizer gun- _with_ ammo. A silencer, that had their hackles rising a little bit. A small hand held pistol. The kind that was easy to hide and even easier to use.

Such an item was usually used for self defense. And little else.

And of course, what looked like a semi automatic mini machine gun. With paintball ammo?

Okay, that one sort of threw them a little bit. After all, they hadn't been expecting a semi automatic paintball gun in that model.

The rest of the weapons were knives. Incredibly dull, unsharpened, knives.

Seriously, those would only do the barest amount of damage in their current state. His curiosity finally getting the best of him, Bucky dropped down to sit across from her and asked, "Why do you have weapons?" His eyes never once leaving the knives.

"Nicky didn't tell you much about me, huh?" It was part question, part simple fact. And it almost set his teeth on edge. After all, omega's were considered the weaker and fairer sex of all the dynamics. They were meant to be sheltered, protected till their alpha's/pack's dying breath, and cherished above all things.

"He told me that you were healthy," He paused for a moment to re think that. Especially since Tony had already told him that she had suffered some sort of bad injuries. He'd also seen the scars earlier when Nat was dragging her out of the bathroom half naked. "I'm guessing that he lied."

She snorted and let her eyes flicker to him as her lips curved up in a smile. "Only a little bit. Technically, I am healthy. My old injuries are just still in the process of completely healing. My heart and lungs are doing much better than they have been these past few weeks."

"He said that you were eighteen."

She huffed a small laugh, "He's wrong there. I'm sixteen in a half."

Both he and Nat cocked their heads as they studied her. Both of them shocking their shock at the admission. After all, they had expected an adult omega of eighteen years. Not one that was still technically a _child_.

"How could he lie about you're age?" Natasha asked in a horrified/confused tone. Her mind trying to wrap around the fact that their pack omega was still too young to bond or mate.

"I doubt that he did it intentinally." Ichigo said in a much somber tone.

"You didn't tell him you're age." Bucky said after a moment or so.

"I merely omitted certain facts upon our meeting. It's nothing personal, I merely didn't feel that I could trust him with every little detail. Besides- it isn't as if I can't fake being eighteen. I've always looked two or so years older than I actually am. I'm taller than an average sixteen in a half year old. My body is more mature. And despite the way I often act, I myself am mature enough. I'm just...very awkward and skittish."

"How old were you when you met Fury?" Nat asked curiously.

"Thirteen in a half." She deadpanned.

"_Huh?!_ B-But he had you tested and trained by some of our agents!" Natasha practically shouted at her in dismay.

"Hate to break it to you, but I was combat trained _long_ before I met Nicky. I've been training in various forms of martial arts and hand to hand and such since I was seven years old."

They both stared at her in slack jawed disbelief at hearing this. Their minds unable to fully wrap around the concept of a seven year old girl/omega, being taught anything that could be considered dangerous or _detrimental_ to her health. Shield was one thing- they would have only taken note of her dynamic and her talent at fighting and taught her accordingly.

But an unknown trainer was another thing entirely.

One wrong move during her training as a child could have either caused irreparable harm to her or even killed her!

The two were practically incandescent with rage at the thought of her being hurt or worse.

"Is that where you're scars came from?" Bucky asked in a low, angry, growling tone.

"Not really. I think in all the years I was trained, I maybe only suffered a few broken bones and a few concussions."

"Then where did those scars-" Nat sarted to demand when Ichigo reached out and pressed a finger to her lips to silence her. The red head merely blinked at her in surprise since she hadn't been expecting her to do that.

"The scars don't matter any. Many of them are very old. And a lot of the people who gave them to me are either dead or my friends now. Everything else I got while protecting my little sisters, my close friends, classmates, and my home." Ichigo said gently as she removed her finger from Nat's mouth and just smiled at her.

Bucky didn't know what was more disturbing/heartbreaking. A life time of suffering and abuse from unknown sources, or the girl's smile right then.

Because it really was, very, very heartbreaking in his opinion. And from the look that Nat cast his way once Ichigo shouldered her bag and stood up, he'd wager anything that she thought that it was very heartbreaking too.

* * *

Their little talk a few hours prior had made things very solemn and depressing between the three.

Even when the groveling gifts that Bucky (and Nat) had gotten for Ichigo finally arrived and they presented them to her. And seeing her reaction to them couldn't seem to _totally_ lighten the mood any.

Though her reaction had been a little bit on the funny side. Aside from himself, and on occasion- Tony- he hadn't really ever seen someone flounder before.

Though the two alpha's suspected that she liked the candy far more than the flowers and jewelry. Even if she didn't complain about them any. She did inevitably wind up wearing the choker because Nat had insisted that she wear it until she had caved with a slight whine.

Bucky had to admit that once the choker was on her, every little bit of his possessive nature had practically risen to the surface. Making him anxious and twitchy to reach out and- but he squashed his thoughts and instinctive impulses before he could do anything stupid like grab her up and press her close to himself.

Nat hadn't really fared any better than he had once the choker had been in place.

Though unlike himself, she had actually been about to _lunge_ at the omega and cuddle and scent mark her before quickly catching herself and then simply settling for patting Ichigo on the head affectionately, and then quickly walking off before she gave into the temptation.

Ichigo had merely stood here for a moment or so, watching her walk away before turning to him and awkwardly asking him if he wanted a hug or something.

He would have said no. Really he would have.

But there was this weird whining sound coming from somewhere close by and it took him a moment to actually realize that he was the one making the sound. Plus, she had offered. So he felt absolutely no remorse whatsoever about holding his arms out to her and letting her step close enough to hug him.

Despite how upset he was about the earlier conversation, being hugged by her was like being injected with liquid joy. It- It was just awesome.

He was even tempted to call Steve up and rub it in his face that _he_ got a_ hug_. But he was probably still being a little shit. So- no- no bragging to him. Instead he called Thor.

Which was funny since the man reacted over the phone much like a puppy would. On one hand he'd gotten all excited to know that the pack now had an omega. And on the other he got really sad when Bucky told him that she was in heat and no- he couldn't come and see her right now.

And then he got a call from Nat- and then he got, really, really, really sad when she told him about her patting Ichigo on the head and Bucky getting a hug. Which made them both feel utterly _terrible_.

So after some bargaining on their part, and offers to buy him some new flavored pop-tarts to perk him up, he actually wished them well and then got off of the phone with them both. Which was right about the time he finally heard the water running in the bathroom and then cast a quick, slightly panicked look Nat's way and got a thin mouthed smile as the redhead briskly made her way over to the bathroom and knocked on the door to check on the omega.

Luckily she had just finished bathing herself and dressing, when Nat knocked. So she was able to both respond and open the door for her. Once the door was open wide enough for Nat to see her standing there, the woman cast a look in Bucky's direction earning a little finger wave from Ichigo as she stepped out of the bathroom in her night shirt.

A sapphire blue, long sleeved, button down satin shirt that fell to her knees.

The choker was still in place around her throat. And it looked like she had decided to wear the pink and white diamond, flower shaped cluster earrings which made Natasha_ preen_ the second that she caught sight of them in her ears. And she had her hair still up off of her nape even though it was damp.

Her scent was sweeter now too. A nice combination of honeysuckle, and oranges with an underlying tang of ginger that was difficult for the two alpha's to totally ignore.

"Angel, are you alright?" Nat finally managed to gather her wits enough to ask.

"I'm fine. Just...not feeling totally energetic right now. So I thought I'd get a shower and clean up some while I could. I figure I might be asleep again within the next hour or so."

"Oh. I see."

"Is he okay?" Ichigo asked, pointing to Bucky.

"Huh?" Nat said as she turned to look at the man again. He looked like he wanted to rip something apart, bench press a large airplane, a bus, chase a train- and challenge the Hulk to a fist fight. In truth, it was somewhat alarming to the red head. "He's fine. Let...me see if I can calm him down some, hn."

"Yeah. You go ahead and do that and I'll...just go over here." Ichigo said as she awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck as Nat smiled at her and then turned to go see what she could do to calm Bucky before he gave into his instincts to claim the girl as Ichigo walked off towards the bedroom.

"Are you alright?" Nat asked the man once she was closer to him.

He just stared at her for a second and then growled out, "M'fine." It wasn't exactly a lie. But it wasn't really the truth either. She could tell that Ichigo's omega scent was starting to get to him a little bit.

"Her scent is starting to get to you."

"Then you may have to kick me out of the room for a little while."

"Very well." Nat said as she then pointed to the door and gently said, "Go. Work off some of those...hormones in the gym or something. And come back in a little bit so that I can see if this is going to be a problem or not."

"If it is, I'll sleep in the hall." Bucky said with a slight shrug as he headed towards the door, his feelings slightly hurt by the fact that his own nature was getting the best of him. He had always thought that he had much better control than this and was just a little bit upset at the possibility that he might not be able to help the omega more.


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm a little self conscious about this chap. **

**It's sometimes really, really hard to pin down the right reactions and alpha-like behavior and such. So just bear with me please.**

* * *

Steve had been in the gym since earlier in the day, breaking things in anger and frustration. Finally after he tore apart so many punching bags, and several other things that he just _knew_ that Tony was going to bitch at him about. He grabbed his drink and sat himself down on one of the benches off to the side of the gym, and simply kept telling himself that he was a real bastard for how he had acted earlier.

The omega girl had simply gotten under his skin a little bit.

It wasn't her fault that he was pissed. In fact it was actually Sharon's fault.

He still didn't understand what he had done to make her treat him the way that she had. I mean, they had been _bonded_ and all but_ mated_. So he couldn't quite wrap his mind around why she would go behind his back and mate with another alpha.

It wasn't like he had been bad, or abusive to her even with his 'medieval throwback' tendencies. He'd at least managed to _break_ most of his really bad habits from the forties long before they had met.

So if anything he had been loving and doting on her as one should be with an omega.

Which was why he was more than a little bit..._hurt _by what she had done to him.

Which was why he had sort of lashed out before. It was stupid, and he knew that. Just as well as he knew that he'd been wrong to say the terrible things that he did about the new pack omega.

In his defense though, he had never expected a female- let alone an omega of any kind to take one look at his best friend and say _no_. Much less swear up a storm and practically call them all rapists, and hurl insults at their heads in the same damned breath.

And he hadn't been able to help himself. Still...he had been _incensed_ by her behavior towards them. But mostly on Bucky's behalf since she was supposed to help him with his rut later on- And he still didn't understand how an omega of any kind could take one look at his friend and say_ 'NO'. _

It was just...mindboggling to him.

After all, Bucky was gorgeous!

But he figured that she must have her reasons for doing so now that he was calmer. And less angry about the whole thing. And...

"I have to apologize." He muttered to himself as he opened his drink and started to take a swallow when he suddenly smelled something...that smelled like honeysuckles, oranges and ginger? And his drink slipped from his fingers and spilled all over the floor at his feet.

"What the-" He muttered as he quickly stood up and tilted his head back and started to scent the air a little bit. The smell was fresh, along with the underlying scent of snow and mint causing him to make a beeline for the door as it drew closer.

Bucky had just stepped off of the elevator when he nearly ran into Steve, who was just standing there with an oddly predatory look on his face sniffing the air for a second before he finally noticed him.

"Bucky," He said with a confused frown as he grasped the front of the brunettes shirt and tugged him in close enough to bury his nose against his shirt. Bucky held himself perfectly still and let him. If only to keep him from attacking him since he was looking more than a little bit..._feral_ at the moment. "The omega...she's in heat?" Steve finally asked in a soft rumbling tone as he slowly released him.

"Yeah." Bucky said in an slightly uneasy tone that the blond must have noticed almost automatically. The feral look disappeared and he took several steps back away from him.

"I-Is she okay?" He asked in a concerned tone.

"She's fine. She has a higher threshold for pain than any omega that I've ever seen before."

Steve frowned at his words but merely nodded his head as if he understood. After all, in his mind, she'd have to have a high pain threshold if Bucky was here with him instead of with her, servicing her.

"You haven't mated?" Steve found himself asking without meaning to.

"Nah. She's too young." Bucky said as he started to brush by him but was stopped by Steve's hand grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back.

"What do you mean? She's eighteen isn't-"

"No. Fury was wrong about her age. She's sixteen in a half." Bucky said automatically, missing the almost comical way that Steve's jaw dropped open in shock.

_"O-Oh."_ He said lamely before then asking, "Then what are you going to do about-"

"Nothing." Bucky said with a shrug. "There's really nothing that I _can_ do."

"Then maybe-" Steve started to suggest that he have Fury get him into contact with a service omega so that his rut wouldn't be so bad.

But Bucky cut him off with a angry sounding, _"No."_

"But Buck-"

"I said no Steve! Don't you get it? Haven't you figured it out yet? _She's mine!_ I knew it the second that we stepped onto the triskelion and _smelled_ her."

Understanding flitted across Steve's face after a moment or so. "S-She's your mate?"

Bucky nodded his head solemnly uncertain of what else to do but confirm what he already knew to be true in the very core of his heart and soul. Steve let out a little ragged half sob/half laugh, his blue eyes lighting up and he smiled the first genuine smile that he'd smiled in months.

There was real happiness and warmth and joy in his expression as he said, "I'm so glad that you finally found her, Buck." Just because his love life sucked, didn't mean that Bucky's love life had too.

Bucky nodded, his expression softening a bit as he raised a hand to rub one of his eyebrows. "I'm...glad that I found her too. But-"

"But, you're rut..." Steve said softly.

Bucky inhaled deeply for a moment and then exhaled tiredly. "I know that it's going to be bad. But...she's too young, and- And Stevie I've waited almost a _hundred_ fucking years for that little gal. I can't fuck up things now. I-I just _can't_. I'm going to talk to Tony and see if he can set up something to help with a medical team. I know that I may be violent. I could attack someone. Hell I might even try to go after the girl since she's mine. But I have to try and make sure that _none_ of those things happen."

"Okay." Steve said easily as Bucky gave him a small smile and then walked off and left him. Steve stood there for all of two minutes before he moved himself back to the elevator and got on it and pressed the button for the floor above his own.

* * *

Ichigo didn't nest, Natasha found out once Bucky had left the room.

The girl had walked out of the bedroom with half of the blankets for her nest, piled high in her arms and had simply placed them on the couch and then started to proceed in building herself a neat looking little blanket fort right there in the corner of the living room.

"That's...a nice little fort," Nat finally said as she sat down on the floor while the girl put the finishing touches on it. "Do you plan to sleep in there? She asked curiously, hoping that the girl would tell her that she wouldn't.

It wasn't good for an omega to sleep on the floor, it simply wasn't considered soft enough. Even if they had a semi...fort...nest..._thingy_.

"Uh...no. And thanks," Ichigo said with a grin as she backed out of her little fort and then double checked it a little bit more as she started to ramble. "I used to do things like this with my baby sisters sometimes. It's sort of a...bonding thing. We'd have a girl's week or something and kick dad out of the living room and build a fort thingy and spend the whole weekend camping out, eating junk food, having little coffee drinking contests until we made ourselves sick... I also used to do this with my friends and some of my school mates too. Mostly when they were hurt or feeling upset about something. Do you think it's big enough for your friend to fit in?"

Nat blinked at her as she tried to wrap her mind around the omega and siblings? Making themselves a place to camp out in as she caught the girl's question. "Bucky? Why would he want to fit in there?" Nat asked curiously.

Ichigo huffed a little bit and then awkwardly said, "Because he's upset. I could tell when he left that something was _wrong_... So I-I thought that I'd build him a f-fort to hang out in. It always used to make me feel better when I was upset and stuff. So..."

"So you made him a fort to make him feel better." Nat supplied helpfully. Ichigo nodded her head. Her expression grave. Nat laughed softly at how adorable the girl was when she was trying to make someone feel better about something. And could actually imagine her doing something _odd_ when Bucky returned as well. "That's very sweet angel. I'm sure that he'll like it."

Which was true.

And something told her that a little fort made by Ichigo would be just the thing for him to enjoy curling up in. If only to bask for a little while in the knowledge that she had done it just for him.

"I'm glad that he'll like it." Ichigo said as she slowly eased herself out of it and then got to her feet again and stifled a yawn.

"You're tired, little one. Why don't you go to bed," Nat suggested gently. Ichigo waved her off and then grabbed the last blanket and a pillow and then sat down on the couch and made herself comfortable.

"I'll be fine, Natasha. What do you say we get some snacks from the fridge or whatever. And we sit here and watch TV and binge eat for a little bit while we wait on Bucky to come back."

"I say that you'll probably make yourself sick."

"Meh, you can hover over me and say, 'I told you so', when it happens then." Ichigo said with a small grin. It was on the tip of Nat's tongue to tell her not to be so stubborn and go to bed already, but she had an inkling that she wouldn't listen anyways and was about to relent when the door to the room opened and Steve stepped into the room.

Instantly, Nat went from relaxed to on guard and moved to place herself between Ichigo and the blond when Ichigo slowly stood up again and peeked around the woman's shoulder at the guy. Recognizing him as the 'scowly guy' from earlier in the day.

"Steve." Nat said in a growling tone that all but screamed, _threat_.

"Uh...sorry to just barge in like this. Bucky might not be back for a while yet so I thought that I'd come up and check on you both." He said awkwardly. Noting how tense Nat was and he internally sighed knowing that it was his fault that she was acting as if he was going to attack them.

"We're fine," The red head said coldly when Ichigo stepped around her and walked over to Steve before she could manage to grab her and stop her from approaching him. "Ichigo! Get back here!"

_"Calm down,"_ Was all the omega said to her the second that she was close enough to reach. In Nat's mind it was far too close to him. For all she knew after his behavior earlier, he might reach out and rip her head off or something. "He didn't come here to cause any trouble." She said as she looked him over before smiling at him.

Looking all innocent and unassuming to him. Friendly. Not a threat.

Sometimes it was easier to pretend with unknown people like him since it gave her a chance to use her abilities to _read_ their intentions. And she could tell easily just by the way that he was holding himself that he hadn't come to cause any harm. He really did just want to check on them.

So that simply made her part much easier than trying to talk down an overly aggressive alpha. Especially since they tended to be a pain in her ass when they were all riled up.

"Hi," She chirped in a slightly more jovial manner than intended and inwardly cringed at how much she sounded like Orihime just then. "You're the guy that looked like he swallowed something bad."

"Huh?" Steve said unintelligibly.

"I was just about to go and grab some food from the fridge to snack on. And you look hungry. How about you come with me?"

"Huh?" Steve said again, not really knowing what else to say as she reached out and took hold of his hand and then without any warning at all, started to actually _drag_ him by the arm towards the kitchen while Nat spat all kinds of horrible things in Russian before quickly falling into step behind them both. Knowing that it was a bad idea to leave the two alone for any length of time.

Once in the kitchen, the girl let go of him so abruptly that he damned near fell flat on his face. The only reason that he didn't was because she had caught him before he could face plant right there in the kitchen floor and embarrass himself further.

Once he was upright again without any threat or potential accident about to occur, the girl then stepped away from him and started to grab things out of the fridge and set the stuff out on the counter as she listed the stuff for him.

"We have, burgers, fixin's, potato and pasta salad, and fries... Why don't you fix yourself a plate to eat in a little bit."

Steve moved on autopilot and started to do just that. Besides, it wasn't as if the omega was wrong. He'd spent all day in the gym breaking things, so he _was_ hungry. And Bucky had obviously made the food.

Steve could tell just from the smell of it all.

And it _had_ been a while since he'd last eaten Bucky's cooking.

He worked quickly, well as quickly as nearly tripping over the omega would allow. The girl kept unintentionally getting in his way in an effort to help him. It was both kind of sweet of her and a little bit annoying. But he didn't snap or anything since she meant well. And to be honest, he trying to help him out was kind of cute.

However there was one tiny drawback to her helping him.

The more he nearly tripped over her- the _louder_ and more _threatening_ Nat's growling got. Finally he finished fixing himself a plate and looked at Nat, who was blocking the only entrance and exit to the kitchen and was genuinely surprised when the girl walked over to the red head and simply bent down and picked the woman up over her shoulder and then removed the angry alpha from the door.

Stopping for only a moment to long enough to look over her unoccupied shoulder at him and motion for him to run for it. He needed no further encouragement. He scampered out of the kitchen so fast that he should have been kicking up a dust trail behind him.

Finally figuring that maybe he should leave before Nat actually decided to shove one of her knives somewhere really, really uncomfortable, he made a beeline for the door and paused for a moment when he heard the omega call out to him.

"Hey, if you see Bucky out there somewhere- could you tell him that I made him a fort to hang out in so that he'll feel better. He was upset earlier before he left and I've been...concerned. Also hopefully the next time we meet Natasha won't be so...uh...angry? And maybe we can actually sit down and talk. I could even cook if you want." She said in a kind manner than sort of threw him about as much as her dragging him into the kitchen a few minutes prior had.

He simply didn't know what to say. So he nodded his head mutely and then gave her a weird little finger wave before he slipped out of the room and closed the door firmly behind him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Someone chewed me out recently because they didn't really understand that in this fic, Ichigo was an omega but acted more like a beta. And even told me to read up on the behaviors of beta's and omega's and _fix_ the damned problem. **

**So just to clear things up- she isn't an omega. She's a semi-normal girl who was thrust into a world where specific dynamics exist. She isn't an alpha, she isn't a beta and she isn't an omega. **

**She just happens to _smell_ like an omega. Which is why she's refered to as one and tends to upset a _looot_ of peope when she isn't submissive.**

* * *

Bucky returned to the room almost two hours later to find Nat and Ichigo hunkered down on the couch, in front of the TV with several used plates sitting on the coffee table- shouting at the TV screen in outrage and disbelief.

"No, no, no!" The omega chanted as she practically jumped up and down in her seat, her undivided attention on the TV as a blood-curdling scream sounded earning a look of severe disappointment coupled with a glare from the girl as Nat all but shouted.

"_Dammit! Why?!_"

"Stupid big titted tramp," Ichigo groused as she flopped over so that her head was on Nat's shoulder causing the alpha to absently reach up and run her finger's through the omega's loose black hair. "How could she just run into such an obvious trap? Even I could tell that that mad dog killer guy was herding her!"

Nat's hand paused as she heard the omega's words and she twisted her head around to look at the girl for a moment before asking, "You are familiar with such tactics?"

"Yeah. Only weaklings and cowards use it though. If you were outnumbered maybe ten to one or something it would be more understandable. But to use such dirty and underhanded tactics on someone who either doesn't recognize the danger that their in, or has no real way to defend against it is just plain _low_." Ichigo said sullenly before then announcing that the movie was a huge disappointment to her thus far and she should probably go and get some sleep.

Nat said nothing as the girl pulled away from her and started to stand before her eyes flickered in Bucky's direction and she greeted him with a, "Hey there stranger. Bout time you came back up. I made a blanket and pillow fort for you to...I dunno...curl up in? You can make use of it if you feel like it. And if not, that's okay too. I'm going to head off to bed now. Night you two."

"Night."

"Night." Bucky echoed as the girl turned and meandered off towards the bedroom, stifling a yawn behind one of her hands. The second that she was gone, Bucky breathed a little sigh and then looked at Nat and asked in concern. "Is she okay? I mean, is her heat bothering her any? Did she make herself a nest?"

"No. Not that I'm aware of. She's mostly lethargic and just worn out. She didn't bother with a nest at all. It's...disconcerting that she seemed to totally shove aside hundreds upon thousands of years of pure omega instinct and simply used some of the blankets and pillows to build you a fort."

Bucky frowned a little bit thinking that that _was_ somewhat disconcerting alright.

It was totally out of the norm for omega's. Even young ones, to do anything even remotely similar to what Nat had just said that Ichigo had done.

Seeing the little blanket and pillow fort across the room, Bucky frowned again and then went to examine it as Nat got up off of the couch and moved silently behind him as he dropped down to his knees to check it out curiously. One of the first things that he noticed upon examining it was that Ichigo had used some of the _softest_ blankets and pillows to make it.

The ones that were buttery soft and made of silk and velvet. Getting down a little bit lower to the floor, he edged his way inside of it and paused for a moment when he smelled that it smelled a little bit like the omega.

The scent wasn't very strong. Certainly not enough to make him uncomfortable or to trigger his alpha instincts. It was more...soothing than anything, really.

Slowly backing himself out of it, he sat back on his heels for a moment and tried to think of why she would do something like this when Nat said softly, "She built it right after you left," He turned his head to look at the red head for a second before she then tacked on. "She said that she knew you were feeling badly about something. So she made you a fort to curl up in- in an effort to make you feel better."

Bucky didn't know what to say, much less what to think.

On one hand, he was incredibly flattered that the omega had thought of him and made something for him in an effort to cheer him up. And on the other- he was sort of straddling the fence between _irked_ at her for not nesting, and letting his instincts take over for a bit and ripping the fort apart so that he could give the stuff back to the girl and imposing upon her just some of the many _reasons_ why a nest was neccessary for her well being.

It wasn't just a comfort thing, although that did have something to do with it. No, nests were necessary to omega's to help make them comfortable, safe, sheltered, provided for, and cherished.

After all, he had been raised to think that happy omega's made a happy home/pack.

It was also supposed to help them with both of their physical and emotional well being. So as an alpha, he could both understand and not understand why Ichigo hadn't bothered to make a nest for herself.

The fort, while...nice and all. And definitely seemed to have been made with nothing but good intentions- left her behavior open to interpretation and made him think that she was _rejecting_ himself and Nat as her alpha's.

"A-Are we being rejected as alphas?" He finally asked in a hesitant tone. Nat studied him for a moment, noting that he didn't bother to look at her this time and his posture held a more...defeated look to it than normal and sighed before simply replying.

"No, I don't think that's what this is." She said gently before tacking on. "I'm not totally sure if you've noticed Barnes, but Ichigo doesn't seem to either _care, know_ or _understand_ what it is to be an omega. She doesn't seem to have any truly instinctive reactions to us as alpha's. She doesn't cower from us, draw any comfort from us, she allows us to indulge in very specific behaviors, and get's pissed about others that are totally normal for us."

"Like when I tried to follow her into the bathroom and she threw me?"

"Yes. She deemed it inappropriate behavior despite the fact that it is normal to us. She even found the sex toys and stuff that are meant to help her through her heat and destroyed them and tossed them in the garbage right along with the condoms and prenatal vitamins."

Bucky frowned for a moment and then slowly got back up off of the floor and brushed past Nat to go and check the bathroom. Sure enough, there in the garbage was every possibly important item necessary needed to help any unbonded omega in heat. Broken beyond repair and tossed into the trash- _unused_.

"See what I mean?" Nat asked from the doorway behind him.

"Yeah, yeah I think that I do," He said slowly as he finally raised his head and looked at her. "This isn't good."

"No it is not. Omega's aren't meant to deny their natures in such a way."

"So what do we do? How are we supposed to help her?"

"We have to show her that being an omega- especially our pack omega- isn't a bad thing."

"How do we do that?" Bucky asked curiously.

Nat thought for several moments and then shrugged her shoulders before stating, "Omega's in heat- even young ones- need things to help them. By nature, they are sensual beings and long for some sort of connection to others be it physical or mental. We...may need to test the waters a little bit by asking Tony to present her with more toys and see how she reacts to them in front of us."

"I don't see that going over well."

"Nor do I," Nat said with a shrug. "But the information could be useful in the future. To figure out receptiveness and such."

Bucky looked back towards the garbage can and inwardly cringed a little bit. He didn't think their omega would be all that receptive to receiving more toys. Especially in front of people. Still...he relented because Nat had a point.

Sort of.

But she had to be the one to tell Tony about the demise's of the other toys. Because that was simply one conversation that he refused to have.


	9. Chapter 9

In the end, it was Nat who told Tony about the toy's destruction and about their omega's slightly _alarming_ behavior and even the plan to give her more toys to test receptiveness. Tony was totally on board with it too. If only to see Ichigo's behavior up close and see just what they all had to try and work through with her as a pack.

So natrually, he decided to drop by sometime in the morning with a few new toys for her.

Nat was nice enough to warn him that the girl wasn't likely to take the presence of the new toys well. Just to be sure that he was adequately prepared for any sort of violent reaction that she might have. After which she decided to turn in for the night. Leaving Bucky to his own vices.

Bucky kept alternating between concern and...annoyance towards the girl for making him a fort. Sure he understood that she had done it to _try_ and make him feel better. And yes, he did think that it was sweet of her. But she had used her nesting materials! The stuff specifically given to her for nesting so that she could be comfortable.

And it made him feel pissed that she was using things that she needed to remain healthy and happy on him, instead of _herself_.

Getting up from the couch, he walked over to the little fort and started to reach out to rip it apart- but he stopped just before he could touch it and decided to instead go and check on the omega. If she looked even the slightest bit uncomfortable, the fort would be torn apart so that he could return the materials to her.

However when he looked in on her, she didn't seem uncomfortable in the least. In fact she was completely and utterly dead to the world, curled up on her side facing the door.

She'd taken the earrings and collar off so that she could sleep more comfortably without waking up stiff. But he was sure that she would probably put them back on in the morning. And even if she didn't, it was okay for the moment since no one but their pack would be seeing her for a few weeks, maybe a month at the very least since it was the usual adjustment period for an omega.

Walking quietly over to the bed, he took a moment to pull the covers up over her shoulder and smooth her long hair back from her face and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead before he then left.

* * *

He didn't bother sleeping at all.

Though he did spend some time looking over Ichigo's medical files a bit more and he even went and spent some time with Steve for a little bit. The blond was strangely subdued after the incident earlier. And Bucky was fairly certain that he wasn't sure what to think, much less say about the omega feeding him some of her much needed food.

Though he was appreciative that Bucky hadn't punched him yet.

Bucky had merely rolled his eyes at him and asked him if he had liked the burgers. Steve had grinned at him and then politely asked how things were going with Ichigo. Bucky had told him about how odd she was. How she didn't seem to _know_ or even _understand_ what she was.

How she didn't react to him as an alpha, but more as a person instead.

He also mentioned the destruction of the sex toys meant to help her through her heat as well as how she had built him a little fort out of her nesting materials. He then mentioned that Tony was going to see her sometime in the morning with new toys so that they could see what they would have to work on.

Steve listened with a thoughtful look on his face until he was finished, before tentatively asking if he thought that he should be present too. After all, she was Bucky's mate as well as the pack omega.

If something was wrong, then he needed to know so that he could help them all work with her on the problem.

Bucky was a little bit reluctant to let Steve see her in the morning due to the fact that he and Nat would already probably have their hands full with Tony and he was already uncertain about how Ichigo's scent would affect the genius. Prolonged exposure tended to affect different people differently.

However in the end, he relented because he knew that Steve's reasons for asking to be present were valid. He did, however lay down some ground rules. Things like, no touching, no hugging- and such. He didn't however tell the blond that if he did anything stupid, that Ichigo would likely tear into him.

He sort of wanted that to be a surprise.

Once Steve told him that he'd be there early to help him fix breakfast Bucky then bid him a good night and left to go back to the room where he spent a little bit curled up in the fort feeling anxious about what was going to happen in the morning.

He was betting that whatever occurred- it was not only going to be very telling, but also very upsetting to himself and likely to Ichigo and the others as well.

* * *

By the time that Steve showed up the next morning, Bucky was a weird bundle of nervous energy. He was flitting around so much that Nat threw a knife at him at one point, once she finally joined them, just to get him to _stay_ still until she at least had her first cup of coffee.

Once that was out of the way, Bucky started to move again.

He was more subdued, not because he was scared of Nat or anything, but because the red headed alpha had mentioned that if he acted this way around Ichigo- she'd know that something was up and it would ruin everything.

So Bucky had to force himself to act like nothing was up despite the horrible feeling of dread settling in the pit of his stomach as he went about starting breakfast while Nat started on her second cup of coffee and eyed Steve like she'd like nothing more than to shive him in the kidney.

Bucky was more than half way through cooking the food when Ichigo finally joined them and sleepily shuffled her way over to the stool on the other side of Nat and flopped herself down on it.

"Morning, ya'll." She said tiredly.

"Morning angel." Nat said cheerfully as she finally tore her eyes away from Steve after she poked him in the eyes and then shoved him off of his seat. Causing him to fall to the floor with a yelp as Bucky turned around to look her over for a moment or so.

"Morning, doll." He said in a soft tone.

Ichigo gave him a small smile and a little finger wave as she let Nat wrap herself around her like a red haired octopus so that she could resume the weird stare down she'd been having with Steve before Ichigo had joined them.

"Hello omega." Steve said politely. Trying hard to watch himself because Nat was a scarily formidable guard to the pack omega and he did not want her _stabbing_ him.

The omega gave him a small smile in greeting as she carefully extracted herself from Nat's grasp, earning a small whine of protest from the woman. "Jeez, I'm literally not going anywhere- calm down." Ichigo said in a bemused tone as she finally pried Nat's fingers from her shirt. Somehow managing to miraculously do so without allowing the woman to rip it.

"How did you sleep, doll? Any pain or discomfort?" Bucky asked, trying to be nonchalant.

"No more than usual," Ichigo said offhandedly. Not really paying attention to the three alpha's. So she didn't really notice them all tense up a little bit. "Aside from that I slept fine. Almost like a rock, really."

"How bad was the pain?" Nat asked.

"It wasn't too bad. It was more irritating than anything."

Nat nodded her head soberly and then reached out and started to finger comb her hair a little bit as both Steve and Bucky exchanged a look before Bucky turned back to his cooking as Ichigo asked curiously. "What's for breakfast this morning?"

Bucky smiled wryly and shook his head as Steve sniggered.

"I'm fixing some bacon right now and am also planning to fix some French toast-"

"I can prep the French toast if you want." Ichigo offered in an effort to be helpful since prepping French toast took a little bit of time. At least long enough for him to finish up cooking his bacon.

"You can cook?" Nat asked in a slightly startled/excited tone. The prospect of the omega possibly cooking for them was simply too great to ignore.

"Yeah, after my mom died- it was my job to take over the household chores and cook the meals for my family. My younger sister Yuzu inevitably took over but I did it until she was old enough since she and Karin were both toddlers at the time mom died."

"Really? How old were you when you started to...uh...cook?" Bucky asked hesitantly.

"I was about seven." She sounded oddly proud of the fact that she had taken over taking care of her family at such a young age. And perhaps she had every reason to feel proud. However Bucky and Steve were old fashioned alpha's. They were raised to believe that parents should take care of their children if their partner died.

But it sounded as if her dad was strangely absent. Which would somewhat explain her independent streak a little bit as well as why she tended to do things for herself without any help.

She simply wasn't used to people helping her.

Bucky was reluctant to let her try her hand to cook for them and it showed in the way that he cast a glance at both Nat and Steve. However Nat was all for it. Maybe to see how skilled she was? And Steve...well he looked rather reluctant too. But he also looked a little bit curious as well.

So with a sigh, Bucky decided to cave for the moment and see what Ichigo could do. But if she ruined the food- then Nat and Steve was going to eat it all while he went out and bought himself and Ichigo some real food from the nearest Hardee's while the other two starved.

"Alright. Let's see what you can do."

Ichigo smiled at him and slipped form her seat and walked around the island and began to collect everything needed to prep the French toast. Bucky was weirdly surprised by how easily she put everything together and began soaking the bread to be cooked.

She had even pulled a couple of small bowls from the cabinet and made some various sauces to eat with it. One was a powdered sugar topping. Another was a vanilla and raspberry topping, and another was a delicious looking blueberry.

It was neat, if he were perfectly honest with himself. And once she finished making the sauces, she was even nice enough to let Nat, himself, and Steve try tasting them a little bit.

Nat was absolutely in love with the raspberry sauce. Steve claimed the powdered sugar topping. And Bucky was absolutely in love with the blueberry. He'd never tasted anything so frigging orgasmic before. It was just that damn _delicious_.

So much so that the moment that her back was turned again, he and the others stole the bowls and hid them from her so that they could eat the contents once their breakfast was made.

A little while later, everything was finished and they were starting to fix their plates when Tony showed up with a couple of bags in his hands.

"Morning everyone!" He called out as he set the bags aside while everyone either called out their own greeting or waved at him. "Hey, is that breakfast?"

The three alpha's all rolled their eyes at his question as Ichigo pulled an extra plate out of the cabinet and set it down on the island for him if he wanted to help himself if he wanted too.

Tony gave her a grateful smile as he walked over to them and picked up the dish and then kissed her on the cheek before he went on to fix himself something to eat while Ichigo scrunched up her nose a little bit and tried hard to resist the urge to scrub at her cheek with her hand.

What was it with people and the weird displays of affection? She wondered to herself as she huffed softly and walked out of the kitchen with her breakfast in hand and walked over to the couch and sat down on the floor between it and the coffee table and set her plate down so that she could eat. Completely missing the odd, varying looks of worry that she got from the alpha's.


	10. Chapter 10

**Merry Christmas everyone!**

* * *

Once Tony finished making his plate, he moved over to where Ichigo was sitting and sat himself down across from her as Nat, Steve, and Bucky all followed his lead and practically surrounded the omega on all sides.

"So...I don't think that we've been properly introduced just yet. But I was with Bucky and Steve in Fury's office-"

"Yeah I know," Ichigo said around a bite of bacon. "I remember." She said as Tony gave her a slow smile.

"Good. My name's Tony Stark. And I'm one of the other alpha's that lives here in the tower." He said as he reached out his hand. The omega took it and shook it while making eye contact with him. Eye contact! In his experience, omega's didn't typically make eye contact with alphas. So he was positively giddy by the small action.

It meant that the team omega wasn't someone who was impressed or intimidated easily.

He loved that. Truly he did.

"Nice to meet you..."

"Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Ichigo? That's an interesting name. It's Japanese for strawberry, right?"

"Actually, with the way it's spelled- it mean's 'number one guardian'."

"Really?" Tony asked with a slight smile. Ichigo made a humming sound and slowly extracted her hand from his grasp. "That's a peculiar thing to name an omega. I think most people choose cute or feminine names for female omegas. You're parents must have accidentally named you 'number one guardian' instead of 'strawberry'."

"My parents named me adequately." Ichigo said firmly. "They named me for what I am."

Tony made a thoughtful humming sound as he considered her words before asking, "You think so? It seems like a little bit much to expect an omega to be a number one guardian."

Ichigo merely gave him a sweet smile, weirdly similar to Nat's when she was about to give someone just enough rope to hang themselves with. It was as interesting as it was terrifying. Tony was about to say something more but Bucky cleared his throat and gave him a pointed look that practically screamed, _Sit down and shut up_. As he reached over and lightly tapped her plate with his index finger and softly said, "Eat, doll. You need the food."

Ichigo scrunched her nose up a little bit as she looked at him oddly for a moment but then settled back down to eat. Her plate was clear of everything but a few pieces of bacon barely five minutes later. Just as Tony finally finished off his own plate and pushing it aside.

"That was great Barnes. I should eat your cooking more often." Tony said as he got a slight nod from Bucky while Nat and Steve finished polishing off their own plates before he spoke again. "So- I heard that someone was having a tad bit of difficulty with their heat and brought some stuff to help." Tony said in an overly cheerful tone that had Bucky looking at him like a deer caught in the headlight for a second before quickly looking at Nat in alarm.

_Just what the fuck had she told him?! _He wondered as Nat merely cast a glance at Ichigo as she tried to tell Tony that she was fine. And was ignored. She huffed a little bit in annoyance as he stood up and then ran over to the bags that he'd brought with him and grabbed them all and then ran back to where he'd been sitting before and laid the bags out on the coffee table in front of Ichigo and sat back down looking more than a little bit proud of himself.

"I got all kinds of goodies for you, sweetheart. I was sure to grab almost everything that a pretty omega could possibly ask for. Go ahead, check it all out." Tony said as he nudged one of the bags towards her. It wasn't the bag with the new sex toys, but it was close. He hadn't been kidding when he'd said that he'd grabbed a little bit of everything that an omega could ask for.

He'd grabbed sweet scented lotions and body oils, things for her sensitive skin and to make her long strawberry blond hair feel like silk to the touch. He'd bought her some more nesting materials to see if maybe a change in what she was presented with would make her feel more like nesting.

He suspected that the reason that she hadn't before was maybe because the previous stuff had been deemed unworthy or not soft enough or something. Though he had no idea why anyone would think that silk, velvet, and buttery soft blankets weren't soft enough.

He'd bought her some nice, sexy lingerie that he was sure would wow just about anyone. In fact he would almost bet money that Barnes's jaw _dropped_ once he saw the pretty little outfits with the matching silk and lace stockings.

After all, Tony had nothing but excellent taste.

He'd made sure that he got items that would flatter the omega's nice figure and show just enough skin to tease and entice. He didn't bother with anything too revealing since Nat had mentioned that she wasn't the type to like showing so much flesh.

Their team omega was a classy girl. Not a slutty one.

He'd even gotten some normal, comfortable, everyday clothing for her. Some sweaters, satin blouses, some cotton t-shirts with various things on them. Band names (though he didn't yet know what kind of music she listened too. He wasn't an eighteen year old girl, after all) some funny meme's, anime characters and some just plain shirts in various colors. White, blue, pink, red, purple, blue, and black.

He'd gotten her some cosmetics too.

Sultry colored stuff, and classic chic looking stuff in different shades of red and pink with matching fingernail polish. Something that he was sure that an untouched omega and the various alpha's and beta's on their team would _all_ appreciate.

And then there were the toys.

He wasn't going to lie and say that he expected her to like them. Especially after his conversation with Nat the night before. But he at least hoped for something favorable as he watched her expression.

She seemed okay with the scented lotions and stuff. She even took a moment to check them and see if she might like the scents. She smiled a little bit as Nat swiped one of them and gave it an experimental sniff before oooh-ing and aww-ing over it in a semi playful manner. The omega merely rolled her eyes at her and then turned and asked Bucky's opinion over them.

Bucky patiently sniffed them all and then handed them off to Steve to see what he thought.

The jerk liked none of them but the rose scented one. While Nat liked the lavender vanilla smell that had almost had Ichigo cringing. Bucky had liked the peony and the magnolia. But only because they were so oddly similar to Ichigo's natural scent.

So naturally, the girl handed Nat the one that she had liked and Steve the one that he had liked and told them to take them with her blessing, much to Tony's bemusement.

After that she'd gone through some of the other bags. The one with the new nesting material seemed to make the omega smile. She'd even pulled one of the new blankets out and wrapped herself in it and then got defensive when Nat asked her what she was doing.

Apparently she was feeling a little bit cold and simply wanted to warm up some. Or at least that was what she told them.

Bucky just thought that maybe she liked the new stuff more then the previous nesting stuff.

After that she moved on to the bag with the lingerie in it. And a second after peeking inside of the bag, promptly tossed it across the room and seemed to forget that it was even there.

The weird behavior must have thrown Tony for a little bit of a loop. Cause he made the mistake of going and collecting the bag and the stuff in it and bringing it back.

This time once it was in Ichigo's hands, her lips peeled back from her teeth in a silent snarl and then she pulled out a lighter and lit the damned thing on fire and then stood up, and politely thanked Tony for the stuff that she'd seen so far- despite the growing fireball sitting on the table between them and then walked off.

Leaving the four alpha's to try and put out the fire and save what was left of the stuff that she hadn't seen yet.


	11. Chapter 11

**Everyone was loving Ichigo's 'kill it with fire' response. So let's see what happens next.**

**P.S. The alpha's get a little bit weird in this one.**

* * *

"Did anyone else think-" Tony started to ask before coughing a bit as he waved away what was left of the smoldering remains of the lingerie beg and it's contents. "That Strawberry's 'burn' response was just a tad bit excessive?"

Bucky and Steve both thinned their lips a little bit and nodded their heads as Nat chimed in. "It depends on what was in the bag," Causing all three males to look at her oddly. "_What?" _Nat said in a defensive tone before tacking on. "Even I've had moment's where even I wanted to burn something that Tony has given to me. I've just never met anyone with the balls to _actually_ do it."

"She killed the lingerie that I bought for her Nat." Tony said in a disbelieving tone.

In truth, he wasn't all that sure how to react to the omega's reaction to the carefully selected items that he'd gotten for her. On one hand, he _had_ been warned. And on the other...well, he was sort of torn between laughing and crying at the same time.

Laughing because who the hell set something on fire like that and still had the presence of mind to politely thank someone else before retreating to a safe place? And crying because that lingerie had been really, really, really nice and _yes_\- he had sort of envisioned a more positive, and maybe a little bit of an affectionate response from her.

The moment that Nat realized what he'd said, she looked about like she was going to cry as she shouted, "_What?!_ Nooo! No, no, no-"

"Don't try to pull a Clint and go into denial, Nat. The lingerie is _dead_. We all saw her set it on fire and then walk off." Steve deadpanned as the woman finally fell silent with a pitiful sounding whine.

"Was it pretty Tony? I feel like I should know if it was pretty." Nat said as she looked at the genius with wide, slightly hopeful green eyes.

"It was very pretty Nat," Tony said soberly as the woman whined again. "It was pretty and tasteful- none of that slutty shit that people usually buy for their omegas. It was exactly within the suggested parameters that you gave me. Nothing that showed too much skin. Only enough to tease and entice. I got colors meant to flatter her coloring, and make her hair and eyes pop. And I even had silk stockings cause I knew that Barnes would like them."

This time both Nat and Bucky whined.

"That bag had silk stockings Stevie." Bucky said as he stared at the still slightly smoking remains.

"Yeah, I heard."

"Why did the silk stockings have to die Stevie? They never hurt anyone. And they're so soft and silky and nice to the touch." Bucky said with a weird hand motion. Almost like he was trailing his fingers along someone's leg with a dreamy expression on his face.

Tony facepalmed as Nat hugged him and eyed Bucky.

Steve looked at Bucky with a funny expression of his own that was some weird cross between 'focus' and 'WTF, I've lost him'. It must have been a Captain look because only Steve could manage to pull an expression like that off without his face freezing that way.

"Steve."

"Yeah."

"We've lost these two." Tony said as he indicated both Nat and Bucky.

Steve made a weird, half hum/half growling sound before then saying with a straight face. "They were casualties of the omega-lingerie war."

"That's tragic." Tony said from over the top of Nat's head.

"I know. They were so young...and looked forward to so much."

"We'll have to bury them then."

"Yeah."

"I get Nat's porn collection." Tony said suddenly.

"Awesome," Steve deadpanned. "I got dibs on Bucky's. His collection is greater than yours, and spans different decades. Now let's collect these two and bury them before they start stinking up the place," Steve laughed a little bit as Bucky finally snapped himself out of his little daydream and swatted at him with a growl as Steve said in a mock excited tone. "Bucky! You've returned from the dead!"

"Fuck off!" Bucky snapped at him before Tony asked if someone could help resurrect Nat so that they could have a serious discussion about what the hell had just happened. And maybe get to the bottom of _why_ their omega had reacted in such a negative manner to something that should have had her practically purring in contentment.

It took another few minutes for Nat to finally return to her senses.

Mainly because she'd suffered a shock and her pervy little mind was a lot like Bucky's and just couldn't handle it for the moment. But once she was herself again, she pushed all thoughts of the destroyed lingerie to the back of her mind, and tried to help them get to the bottom of things.

"I've never seen an omega do something so- so..."

"Out of character?" Steve supplied helpfully.

"Yeah, that." Tony said before tacking on. "I mean, what sort of omega would turn down something _nice_ from an alpha in such a violent manner?"

"Well, it's not all that surprising really. I already know that Ichigo isn't really fond of things that have to do with sexuality or her gender but- I've never seen someone do something quite like _that_ before." Nat said with a frown as she mulled over specific pieces of information about the omega to see if it might help them some.

"I have," Bucky said before going on. "While I was at Hydra. I saw a lot of fucked up stuff. One such thing was that they'd drag omega's into the bases for 'group relief'. They did a lot of horrifying stuff to these innocent omega's where they would lock them in a room with torture devices and about a hundred or more rutting alphas. I mean they forced them to take, and take, and take until there was nothing left but bloodied remains once they were done. And those poor omega's died screaming..."

"Are you saying that you think she might be one of those omegas or something?" Steve asked in an appalled tone. His tone belying his horror at the mere thought.

"No. I mean, I hope not. But what I'm saying is- that whatever it is that's got her so freaking repressed- there _is_ a reason for it. And it must be fucking bad. Like worse than anything that Hydra could have done."

"Did you finish reading her medical file?" Tony asked suddenly.

"No, why?"

"I did," Tony said before going on. "And she has a lot of reasons to _hate_ both her secondary gender and alpha's. She has a lot of reasons to want to avoid sex too. None of her previous experiences were...very positive ones." Tony said after a moment or so before continuing. "She's been attacked, beaten, nearly raped repeatedly- almost murdered on several occasions..."

Bucky made a face and motioned with his hand for Tony to shut up since neither Nat nor Steve knew anything about those incidents. Or at least he was sure that they didn't. And of course he was right.

"What?!" Both Steve and Nat shouted the moment that they both registered what Tony had just said, causing Bucky to bury his face in his hands and_ groan_ as the two alpha's cornered himself and Tony and demanded answers.


	12. Chapter 12

"What the hell do you mean by- 'She's been attacked, beaten, nearly raped repeatedly- _and_ almost _murdered_ on several occasions?'" Nat demanded angrily as she nearly climbed over the coffee table just to get in Tony's face before gritting out. "Cause I'm pretty sure that that is something that definitely _needs_ to be known by us!"

"I know that!" Tony snapped at her. "But she's new to our pack and this is an adjustment period for all of us. It wasn't that important to be told immediately! Besides, I was hoping to give her enough time to get used to some of us and waiting for the others to come back home before I said anything!"

Steve didn't really say anything despite his earlier response to this information.

All he did was frown as he watched Tony slowly put his hands up and begin to move _away_ from the irate red headed alpha. Whom at that very moment whipped out one of her little knives and looked as if she were about to make an attempt to skin the genius alive with it.

And in a last ditch effort to save himself, Tony decided to throw Bucky to the red headed menace's wrath.

Needless to say, Bucky was _not_ amused when the other turned her ire onto him once Tony let it slip that he'd sent copies of Ichigo's medical files and stuff to the man's phone so that he could look them over.

He started to open his mouth to defend himself- after all, it wasn't as if he'd meant to keep anything from the woman. But wound up being knocked over by her and nearly being stabbed in the face while she straddled his torso and growled angrily at him.

Ichigo having heard the growling and stuff poked her head out of the bedroom just in time to see Bucky get knocked over and nearly stabbed by Nat and huffed quietly as she quietly moved to _stop_ the violence before there was irreparable harm done to someone.

Tony and Steve were both growling back and forth when they noticed her moving up behind Nat, and automatically fell silent as they watched in both dread and just a little bit of awe as she managed to sneak up on the two fighting alpha's and slip an arm around Nat's torso as she grabbed the wrist of the hand that Bucky was attempting to keep away form his face and simply said, "That's enough."

And watched in slack jawed disbelief as the red head went slack in her hold and was lifted up off of Bucky and carried over to the far end of the couch and set down on it.

Once that was done she moved over to Bucky and held a hand out to him, "Here, gimme your hand and I'll pull you up."

"Uh..." Was all that Bucky could manage to get out before slowly, and just a little bit reluctantly reached out to grasp her small hand in his metal one. And let her tug him up so that he was sitting again.

"Now," Ichigo said once he was upright. "What the hell is going on here and why exactly did Nat feel the need to go all 'stabby' on you?" She asked before then demanding of Tony and Steve. "And why are you two _growling_ at each other like frigging dogs?"

Everyone started talking at once. The urge to pacify their pack's omega and stay in her good graces driving them into speaking without thinking. All of them throwing one another to the wolves without any loyalty at all.

"Tony started it!"

"I did not!"

"He withheld vital information!"

"I did not! You didn't ask!"

Ichigo sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose to hide her bemusement as she continued to watch them all turn on each other while mentally making a note of maybe working on some teamwork exercise's with them later. And maybe instilling some fucking fear of god into them too to fix that whole 'no loyalty' thing.

Finally the four of them seemed to snowball from tattling on each other to wrestling amongst each other. Nat startling her a little bit when she got up from the couch and launched herself at the other three, and all of them started rolling around and yelling and screaming at each other in between exchanging blows.

Ichigo honestly debated on giving the winner of this 'fight' of theirs a prize. But only if one person was left standing was at least still conscious. Which she seriously started to doubt would happen once she could see Nat on the blond alpha, Steve's back, slugging the shit out of him.

Right in the _kidney _which caused her to wince in sympathy.

Eyeing the lot of them carefully for a moment, she then turned and ran to the bedroom and grabbed a few pieces of her clothing and then moved back towards the living room and started laying the clothing here and there to stage things a little bit.

A shirt/bra here. A pair of pants/panties there. And then moved back to the bedroom and suddenly shouted, "Oh I'm so hot and horny! Won't someone come and help me?"

Needless to say, her plan to stop their fighting worked like a charm. The four stopped fighting. All of them suddenly freezing up to look towards the bedroom where she was peeking out, their expressions varying from wide eyed shock to...excitement?

Waiting patiently for someone to do something, she steeled herself to do what she had to to stop them and prevent them from fighting again. Especially Steve and Tony.

Those two were looking just a little bit rough at the moment and obviously needed saving before things got even more violent.

The four of them seemed to talk amongst themselves for several moments, each of them wondering if this was real or some sort of trick. Tony was probably the only one amongst them aside from Bucky who knew immediately that this was a trick.

However Nat and Steve...weren't as convinced. In fact they looked a little bit on the desperate side.

Which was how barely two minutes after they both made their way to the bedroom to 'help' her, they found themselves hog tied and sitting on the floor staring up at her in disappointment.

"That was cruel, darling." Nat huffed at her with a pout.

"Maybe so, but it did stop all of you from fighting before someone really got hurt. So I count it as a win."

"Tease." Steve growled, though he wasn't mad about being tricked in such a way. In fact, if anything he was mightily impressed by the omega.

She knew their weakness for her and her omega nature and had exploited it _beautifully_. But more than that- she had just taken him and Nat down. In quick succession, with the barest minimum of effort despite the two of them being riled up.

That was _really_ fucking incredible. It was also really, really, really fucking scary.

Ichigo gave him a tight lipped smile and pressed the bag of peas that Bucky had given her a second ago, to his purpling cheek. "It's not my fault you guys are strung out." She said softly as Steve stared at her from around the bag of frozen food.

"How did you know that she was tricking us?" Nat asked as Tony walked over and dropped down onto the floor with his own claimed bag of frozen food and sighed before replying,

"You saw her 'kill it with fire' response to the pretty stuff I bought her. If that isn't a huge frigging neon sign about her lack of interest, I don't know what is."


	13. Chapter 13

Ichigo's...'heat' finally ended.

And not a moment too damned soon either. Sharing close quarters with two other people, especially ones that happened to both be Alpha's that she was just getting to know- was _weird._

Oh sure, she hadn't really minded all that much.

Nat and Bucky were both great company. But they had such _bizarre_ behaviors and social habits as Alpha's that it literally gave her a headache just trying to keep up with everything.

Granted, not all of it was bad or even weird. But a good portion of it sort of toed the line a little bit.

Still, she'd never felt happier than when she had woken up this morning and had Bucky leaned in and sniffed her- _subtly_, of course. Probably out of some not-so-insane sense of self preservation due to how she tended to react to various Alpha behaviors- before then frowning a little bit, and saying that she seemed to no longer be in heat.

And as such she was no longer confined to the room that she'd been staying.

To say that she'd been practically giddy to get out and move around and maybe explore a bit would be an understatement. The second that she'd dressed, she'd literally run for the door.

Calling out that she'd see the two Alpha's later; maybe around lunch.

So here she was, in the elevator again after exploring seven different floors, heading down to the more populated levels to see who/what was around and what everyone was doing and stuff. It wasn't that she was trying to be a pest. Far from it. She was just suffering a little bit from curiosity and a tad bit of cabin fever.

So naturally she wanted to see everything and everyone and appease both of the feelings in one go. It was a two birds, one stone sort of deal.

Weirdly, the second that the elevator stopped and the door opened, Tony was found waiting for her with a huge grin on his face despite some of the lingering bruises from the day before. But at least the swelling seemed to have gone down.

"Morning!" He chirped happily as she stepped out onto the floor.

"Hey, how are you doing?" She asked as she took a moment to look his bruises over.

The blue-ish purple hadn't deepened any. But they hadn't faded all that much either. But then again, it had only been a day or so since he'd visited so she supposed that it would take a week or more for them to totally fade, depending on how quickly he tended to heal from such things.

"I'm doing fine," He said in a tone that was meant to be assuring. But sounded more cocky to her than anything else. "The bruises should be totally gone in a few days. What about you? Are you okay? Nat texted me and said that you practically ran out of the room an hour or so ago."

"Cabin fever." Was all that she could think to explain her behavior as she wondered if maybe she had hurt Bucky and Nat's feelings with how quickly she had run off.

"Ah," Tony said. "I figured as much after being cooped up for nearly two weeks straight without anything to really do."

She hummed. "Yeah, sitting still is frigging boring. Though I do like being able to check the TV for horror movies."

Tony gave her a small glance before commenting, "Nat did say that you enjoyed yelling at the screen while various characters were led to their doom."

"She likes yelling stuff too."

He smirked at her. "I know. She tends to do that on our movie nights a lot. I guess she finds screaming at the movie characters therapeutic."

"It really is- especially when the character is a big titted moron." She deadpanned causing him to laugh a bit.

"Remind me to show you Aliens the movie." Tony said with a grin, already imagining her and Nat screaming at 'Ripley' to hide her ass from the monsters popping out of people's chests. He'd imagine that the two of them together would come up with some really interesting stuff to scream at the TV.

"I've seen it." Ichigo said as she took note of his overly cheerful expression.

"Really?" He asked in an overly interested tone. "What did you think of it?"

"Awesome movie. Excellent actors. Damned chest popping alien thingy's..." Tony chortled as she went on to say. "I nearly knocked a friend_ unconscious_ climbing over my seat just trying to get away from it." He threw his head back and full on laughed at her slightly mortified expression as she seemed to recall the incident.

She let him laugh at her expense for a good five minutes before finally growling at him, "It's not funny you jerk. I was ten and my mom had just died. I was freaking the fuck out!" And then continued by saying, "And poor Tatsuki! I thought that I'd killed her when she went down and didn't get back up right away! If not for my dad watching the whole spectacle, I might have passed out from a panic attack!"

Tony wasn't laughing anymore. Instead he just looked at her oddly and decided to spare her anymore movie talk for now by asking, "So...want to have a tour and explore a little bit?"

"Sure."

He gave her a slight tight lipped smile and then reached out and snagged her hand and then started to tug her along behind him.

* * *

An hour later-

Tony looked from the blackboard, back to the omega, and shook his head in bewilderment. Why was he so bewildered, you ask?

Because Ichigo was damned brilliant.

No scratch that- she was more than just damned brilliant. How did the Brits say it? Oh yeah, now he remembered. Ichigo- his pack omega- was _bloody brilliant. _

So much so that despite the fact that he was in utter shock at the moment, he fished out his Stark phone, snapped a picture of the very elaborate and confusing math problem that he and Bruce had been working on for the past six months. And then texted the pic to_ everyone_ in the pack with the caption **I've met people who would do strange things for chocolate, but this takes the cake**._** Literally.**_

Oh yeah, did he forget to mention that this who...thing was caused by a bet? With a frigging candy bar as the prize? Because it was.

_Note to self, never bet Ichigo a candy bar that she can't do something. She'll do it and leave you totally speechless once she is done. _He thought to himself as he felt a small tug on his sleeve and turned his head to find the omega standing there waiting for him to hand over her precious and well deserved candy bar.

He slipped the piece of candy off of his desk and slapped it into her waiting hand and watched her grin at him and then skip off to devour it while he was left standing there looking over the problem again. Trying desperately to get his mind to wrap around what she had done to solve it.

For god's sake, she'd only looked at the damned thing for five minutes! He and Brucie had been staring at it everyday for six months! So how is it that she'd been able to solve it? And if he was doing his fucking math correctly- which he usually did- then she'd solved it _correctly_ too.

Scratching his head for a second, he looked the problem over again when he heard his phone chime and held it up to see Bruce's response.

_**Holy shit! **_

_**I'm on my way! **_

Tony snorted knowing that even if Bruce was a few miles away from home- he'd still somehow manage to not show up for a few days since he tended to like wandering around with no real set destination in mind. It made him feel..._better_ about the whole rage monster thing.

The next text he got was from Clint. And it was a laughing face with the words, **I bet your pissed someone else solved it before you. **

Technically speaking, under normal circumstances, Clint would be right about that. He would've been pissed that someone else had solved the problem before he could. Proving himself through specific intellectual exercises was simply how he rolled.

However he wasn't the least bit pissed that Ichigo had solved the problem before he could. In fact, he was rather impressed that she had even understood it. Especially since he and Bruce had both used incredibly advanced 'rocket science-esque' mathematics.

The next couple of texts were from Steve and Thor. A nice excitable looking, **You solved it! **With confetti falling in the background. Which was followed by Nat and Bucky.

**Good job. **

**Ready to solve the next great math problem? **

_Smartasses. _He sneered down at their texts before replying, **Did you even read the caption? **

He got a couple of no's. Because the two assassins sucked.

So in retaliation, he turned to Ichigo who was licking some melted chocolate off of her fingertips and quickly snapped a picture of her. However he forgot to remove the flash from the camera option so when he took her picture.

So upon getting flashed in the eyes she let out a startled yelp and flung herself back off of the table that she'd been sitting on and hit the floor with another yelp and just sort of lay there with her feet in the air.


End file.
